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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18636-8.txt b/18636-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5c5122 --- /dev/null +++ b/18636-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5348 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Story of Newfoundland, by Frederick Edwin +Smith, Earl of Birkenhead + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Story of Newfoundland + + +Author: Frederick Edwin Smith, Earl of Birkenhead + + + +Release Date: June 20, 2006 [eBook #18636] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF NEWFOUNDLAND*** + + +E-text prepared by a www.PGDP.net volunteer, Jeannie Howse, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team +(https://www.pgdp.net/) from page images generously made available by Our +Roots (http://www.nosracines.ca/e/index.aspx) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 18636-h.htm or 18636-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/3/18636/18636-h/18636-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/3/18636/18636-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through Our Roots. See + http://www.nosracines.ca/e/toc.aspx?id=1319 + + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Spelling and hyphenation inconsistencies from the original | + | document have been preserved. | + | | + | A number of obvious typographical errors have been corrected | + | in this text. For a complete list, please see the end of | + | this document. | + | | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +THE STORY OF NEWFOUNDLAND + +by + +THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD BIRKENHEAD +Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain +Honorary Fellow of Wadham and Merton Colleges, Oxford + +New and Enlarged Edition + + + + + + + +London +Horace Marshall & Son +Temple House And 125 Fleet Street, E.C. +1920 +Printed in Great Britain +by Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh + + + + + +PREFACE + + +Twenty-two years ago the enterprise of Horace Marshall & Son produced +a series of small books known as "The Story of the Empire Series." +These volumes rendered a great service in bringing home to the +citizens of the Empire in a simple and intelligible form their +community of interest, and the romantic history of the development of +the British Empire. + +I was asked more than twenty-one years ago to write the volume which +dealt with Newfoundland. I did so. The little book which was the +result has been for many years out of print. I have been asked by my +friends in Newfoundland and elsewhere to bring it up to date for the +purpose of a Second Edition. The publishers assented to this proposal, +and this volume is the result. + +The book, of course, never pretended to be anything but a slight +sketch. An attempt has been made--while errors have been corrected and +the subject matter has been brought up to date--to maintain such +character as it ever possessed. + +I shall be well rewarded for any trouble I have taken if it is +recognized by my friends in Newfoundland that the reproduction of this +little book places on record an admiration for, and an interest in, +our oldest colony which has endured for considerably more than +twenty-one years. + + BIRKENHEAD. + + HOUSE OF LORDS, + _May_ 1920. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAP. PAGE + + I. THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 7 + + II. THE AGE OF DISCOVERY 22 + + III. EARLY HISTORY 45 + + IV. EARLY HISTORY (_continued_) 64 + + V. THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 81 + + VI. THE ENGLISH COLONIAL SYSTEM AND ITS RESULTS 95 + + VII. SELF-GOVERNMENT 114 + +VIII. MODERN NEWFOUNDLAND 126 + + IX. THE REID CONTRACT--AND AFTER 143 + + X. THE FRENCH SHORE QUESTION 171 + +MAPS-- + + NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR 6 + + NEWFOUNDLAND IN RELATION TO WESTERN EUROPE 33 + +INDEX 188 + +[Illustration: NEWFOUNDLAND and LABRADOR] + + + + +THE STORY OF NEWFOUNDLAND + + +CHAPTER I + +THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE + + +The island of Newfoundland, which is the tenth largest in the world, +is about 1640 miles distant from Ireland, and of all the American +coast is the nearest point to the Old World. Its relative position in +the northern hemisphere may well be indicated by saying that the most +northern point at Belle Isle Strait is in the same latitude as that of +Edinburgh, whilst St. John's, near the southern extremity, lies in the +same latitude as that of Paris. Strategically it forms the key to +British North America. St. John's lies about half-way between +Liverpool and New York, so that it offers a haven of refuge for needy +craft plying between England and the American metropolis. The adjacent +part of the coast is also the landing-place for most of the +Transatlantic cables: it was at St. John's, too, that the first +wireless ocean signals were received. From the sentimental point of +view Newfoundland is the oldest of the English colonies, for our brave +fishermen were familiar with its banks at a time when Virginia and +New England were given over to solitude and the Redskin. Commercially +it is the centre of the most bountiful fishing industry in the world, +and the great potential wealth of its mines is now beyond question. On +all these grounds the story of the colony is one with which every +citizen of Greater Britain should be familiar. The historians of the +island have been capable and in the main judicious, and to the works +of Reeves, Bonnycastle, Pedley, Hatton, Harvey, and above all Chief +Justice Prowse, and more recently to J.D. Rogers,[1] every writer on +Newfoundland must owe much. Of such elaborate work a writer in the +present series may say with Virgil's shepherd, "Non invideo, miror +magis"; for such a one is committed only to a sketch, made lighter by +their labours, of the chief stages in the story of Newfoundland. + +To understand that story a short account must be given at the outset +of the situation and character of the island. But for the +north-eastern side of the country, which is indented by deep and wide +inlets, its shape might be roughly described as that of an equilateral +triangle. Its area is nearly 43,000 square miles, so that it is larger +than Scotland and considerably greater than Ireland, the area of which +is 31,760 square miles. Compared to some of the smaller states of +Europe, it is found to be twice as large as Denmark, and three times +as large as Holland. There is only a mile difference between its +greatest length, which from Cape Ray, the south-west point, to Cape +Norman, the northern point, is 317 miles, and its greatest breadth, +from west to east, 316 miles from Cape Spear to Cape Anguille. Its +dependency, Labrador, an undefined strip of maritime territory, +extends from Cape Chidley, where the Hudson's Straits begin in the +north, to Blanc Sablon in the south, and includes the most easterly +point of the mainland. The boundaries between Quebec and Labrador have +been a matter of keen dispute. The inhabitants are for the most part +Eskimos, engaged in fishing and hunting. There are no towns, but there +are a few Moravian mission stations. + +The ruggedness of the coast of Newfoundland, and the occasional +inclemency of the climate in winter, led to unfavourable reports, +against which at least one early traveller raised his voice in +protest. Captain Hayes, who accompanied Gilbert to Newfoundland in +1583, wrote on his return: + +"The common opinion that is had of intemperation and extreme cold that +should be in this country, as of some part it may be verified, namely +the north, where I grant it is more colde than in countries of Europe, +which are under the same elevation; even so it cannot stand with +reason, and nature of the clime, that the south parts should be so +intemperate as the bruit has gone." + +Notwithstanding the chill seas in which it lies, Newfoundland is not +in fact a cold country. The Arctic current lowers the temperature of +the east coast, but the Gulf Stream, whilst producing fogs, moderates +the cold. The thermometer seldom or never sinks below zero in winter, +and in summer extreme heat is unknown. Nor is its northerly detachment +without compensation, for at times the _Aurora borealis_ illumines the +sky with a brilliancy unknown further south. A misconception appears +to prevail that the island is in summer wrapped in fog, and its shores +in winter engirt by ice. In the interior the climate is very much like +that of Canada, but is not so severe as that of western Canada or even +of Ontario and Quebec. The sky is bright and the weather clear, and +the salubrity is shown by the healthy appearance of the population. + +The natural advantages of the country are very great, though for +centuries many of them were strangely overlooked. Whitbourne, it is +true, wrote with quaint enthusiasm, in the early sixteenth century: "I +am loth to weary thee (good reader) in acquainting thee thus to those +famous, faire, and profitable rivers, and likewise to those delightful +large and inestimable woods, and also with those fruitful and enticing +lulls and delightful vallies." In fact, in the interior the valleys +are almost as numerous as Whitbourne's adjectives, and their fertility +promises a great future for agriculture when the railway has done its +work. + +The rivers, though "famous, faire, and profitable," are not +overpoweringly majestic. The largest are the Exploits River, 200 miles +long and navigable for some 30 miles, and the Gander, 100 miles long, +which--owing to the contour of the island--flows to the eastern bays. +The deficiency, however, if it amounts to one, is little felt, for +Newfoundland excels other lands in the splendour of its bays, which +not uncommonly pierce the land as far as sixty miles. The length of +the coast-line has been calculated at about 6000 miles--one of the +longest of all countries of the world relatively to the area. Another +noteworthy physical feature is the great number of lakes and ponds; +more than a third of the area is occupied by water. The largest lake +is Grand Lake, 56 miles long, 5 broad, with an area of nearly 200 +square miles. The longest mountain range in the island is about the +same length as the longest river, 200 miles; and the highest peaks do +not very greatly exceed 2000 feet. + +The cliffs, which form a brown, bleak and rugged barrier round the +coasts of Newfoundland, varying in height from 300 to 400 feet, must +have seemed grim enough to the first discoverers; in fact, they give +little indication of the charming natural beauties which lie behind +them. The island is exuberantly rich in woodland, and its long +penetrating bays, running in some cases eighty to ninety miles inland, +and fringed to the water's edge, vividly recall the more familiar +attractiveness of Norwegian scenery. Nor has any custom staled its +infinite variety, for as a place of resort it has been singularly free +from vogue. This is a little hard to understand, for the summer +climate is by common consent delightful, and the interior still +retains much of the glamour of the imperfectly explored. The cascades +of Rocky River, of the Exploits River, and, in particular, the Grand +Falls, might in themselves be considered a sufficient excuse for a +voyage which barely exceeds a week. + +Newfoundland is rich in mineral promise. Its history in this respect +goes back only about sixty years: in 1857 a copper deposit was +discovered at Tilt Cove, a small fishing village in Notre Dame Bay, +where seven years later the Union Mine was opened. It is now clear +that copper ore is to be found in quantities almost as inexhaustible +as the supply of codfish. There are few better known copper mines in +the world than Bett's Cove Mine and Little Bay Mine; and there are +copper deposits also at Hare Bay and Tilt Cove. In 1905-6 the copper +ore exported from these mines was valued at more than 375,000 dollars, +in 1910-11 at over 445,000 dollars. The value of the iron ore produced +in the latter period was 3,768,000 dollars. It is claimed that the +iron deposits--red hematite ore--are among the richest in the world. +In Newfoundland, as elsewhere, geology taught capital where to strike, +and when the interior is more perfectly explored it is likely that +fresh discoveries will be made. In the meantime gold, lead, zinc, +silver, talc, antimony, and coal have also been worked at various +places. + +A more particular account must be given of the great fish industry, on +which Newfoundland so largely depends, and which forms about 80 per +cent. of the total exports. For centuries a homely variant of Lord +Rosebery's Egyptian epigram would have been substantially true: +Newfoundland is the codfish and the codfish is Newfoundland. Many, +indeed, are the uses to which this versatile fish may be put. Enormous +quantities of dried cod are exported each year for the human larder, a +hygienic but disagreeable oil is extracted from the liver to try the +endurance of invalids; while the refuse of the carcase is in repute as +a stimulating manure. The cod fisheries of Newfoundland are much +larger than those of any other country in the world; and the average +annual export has been equal to that of Canada and Norway put +together. The predominance of the fishing industry, and its ubiquitous +influence in the colony are vividly emphasised by Mr Rogers[2] in the +following passage, though his first sentence involves an exaggerated +restriction so far as modern conditions are concerned: + +"Newfoundlanders are men of one idea, and that idea is fish. Their +lives are devoted to the sea and its produce, and their language +mirrors their lives; thus the chief streets in their chief towns are +named Water Street, guides are called pilots, and visits cruises. +Conversely, land words have sea meanings, and a 'planter,' which meant +in the eighteenth century a fishing settler as opposed to a fishing +visitor, meant in the nineteenth century--when fishing visitors ceased +to come from England--a shipowner or skipper. The very animals catch +the infection, and dogs, cows, and bears eat fish. Fish manures the +fields. Fish, too, is the main-spring of the history of Newfoundland, +and split and dried fish, or what was called in the fifteenth century +stock-fish, has always been its staple, and in Newfoundland fish means +cod." + +The principal home of the cod is the Grand Newfoundland Bank, an +immense submarine island 600 miles in length and 200 in breadth, which +in earlier history probably formed part of North America. Year by year +the demand for codfish grows greater, and the supply--unaffected by +centuries of exaction--continues to satisfy the demand. This happy +result is produced by the marvellous fertility of the cod, for +naturalists tell us that the roe of a single female--accounting, +perhaps, for half the whole weight of the fish--commonly contains as +many as five millions of ova. In the year 1912-13 the value of the +exported dried codfish alone was 7,987,389 dollars, and in 1917 the +total output of the bank and shore cod fishery was valued at +13,680,000 dollars; and at a time when it was incomparably less, Pitt +had thundered in his best style that he would not surrender the +Newfoundland fisheries though the enemy were masters of the Tower of +London. So the great Bacon, at a time when the wealth of the Incas was +being revealed to the dazzled eyes of the Old World, declared, with an +admirable sense of proportion, that the fishing banks of Newfoundland +were richer far than the mines of Mexico and Peru. + +Along the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk the codfish is commonly caught +with hook and line, and the same primitive method is still largely +used by colonial fishermen. More elaborate contrivances are growing in +favour, and will inevitably swell each year's returns. Nor is there +cause to apprehend exhaustion in the supply. The ravages of man are as +nothing to the ravages and exactions of marine nature, and both count +for little in the immense populousness of the ocean. Fishing on a +large scale is most effectively carried on by the Baltow system or one +of its modifications. Each vessel carries thousands of fathoms of +rope, baited and trailed at measured intervals. Thousands of hooks +thus distributed over many miles, and the whole suitably moored. After +a night's interval the catch is examined. + +In 1890 a Fisheries Commission was established for the purpose of +conducting the fisheries more efficiently than had been the case +before. Modern methods were introduced, and the artificial propagation +of cod and also of lobsters was begun. In 1898 a Department of Marine +and Fisheries was set up, and with the minister in charge of it an +advisory Fisheries Board was associated. + +Though the cod-fishery is the largest and the most important of the +Newfoundland fisheries, the seal, lobster, herring, whale and salmon +fisheries are also considerable, and yield high returns. As to all +these fisheries, the right to make regulations has been placed more +effectively in the hands of Great Britain by the Hague arbitration +award, which was published in September 1910, and which satisfied +British claims to a very large extent. + +A pathetic chapter in the history of colonization might be written +upon the fate of native races. A great English authority on +international law (Phillimore) has dealt with their claims to the +proprietorship of American soil in a very summary way. + +"The North American Indians," he says, "would have been entitled to +have excluded the British fur-traders from their hunting-grounds; and +not having done so, the latter must be considered as having been +admitted to a joint occupation of the territory, and thus to have +become invested with a similar right of excluding strangers from such +portions of the country as their own industrial operations covered." + +It is better to say frankly that the highest good of humanity required +the dispossession of savages; and it is permissible to regret that the +morals and humanity of the pioneers of civilization have not always +been worthy of their errand. + +It rarely happens that the native, as in South Africa, has shown +sufficient tenacity and stamina to resist the tide of the white +aggression: more often the invaders have gradually thinned their +numbers. The Spanish adventurers worked to death the soft inhabitants +of the American islands. Many perished by the sword, many in a species +of national decline, the wonders of civilization, for good and for +bad, working an obsession in their childish imaginations which in time +reacted upon the physique of the race. + +Sebastian Cabot has left a record of his standard of morality in +dealing with the natives. When he was Grand Pilot of England it fell +to his lot to give instructions to that brave Northern explorer, Sir +Hugh Willoughby: + +"The natives of strange countries," he advises, "are to be enticed +aboard and made drunk with your beer and wine, for then you shall know +the secrets of their hearts." A further practice which may have caused +resentment in the minds of a sensitive people, was that of kidnapping +the natives to be exhibited as specimens in Europe. + +The natives of Newfoundland were known distinctively as Boeothics or +Beothuks (a name probably meaning red men), who are supposed to have +formed a branch of the great Algonquin tribe of North American +Indians, a warlike race that occupied the north-eastern portion of the +American continent. Cabot saw them dressed in skins like the ancient +Britons, but painted with red ochre instead of blue woad. Cartier, the +pioneer of Canadian adventure, who visited the island in 1534, speaks +of their stature and their feather ornaments. Hayes says in one place: +"In the south parts we found no inhabitants, which by all likelihood +have abandoned these coasts, the same being so much frequented by +Christians. But in the north are savages altogether harmless." +Whitbourne, forty years later, gives the natives an equally good +character: "These savage people being politikely and gently handled, +much good might be wrought upon them: for I have had apparant proofes +of their ingenuous and subtle dispositions, and that they are a people +full of quicke and lively apprehensions. + +"By a plantation" [in Newfoundland] "and by that means only, the poore +mis-beleeving inhabitants of that country may be reduced from +barbarism to the knowledge of God, and the light of his truth, and to +a civill and regular kinde of life and government." + +The plantation came, but it must be admitted that the policy of the +planters was not, at first sight, of a kind to secure the admirable +objects indicated above by King James's correspondent. In fact, for +hundreds of years, and with the occasional interruptions of humanity +or curiosity, the Boeothics were hunted to extinction and perversely +disappeared, without, it must be supposed, having attained to the +"civill and regular kinde of life" which was to date from the +plantation. + +As lately as 1819 a "specimen" was procured in the following way. A +party of furriers met three natives--two male, one female--on the +frozen Red Indian Lake. It appeared later that one of the males was +the husband of the female. The latter was seized; her companions had +the assurance to resist, and were both shot. The woman was taken to +St. John's, and given the name of May March; next winter she was +escorted back to her tribe, but died on the way. These attempts to +gain the confidence of the natives were, perhaps, a little brusque, +and from this point of view liable to misconstruction by an +apprehensive tribe. Ironically enough, the object of the attempt just +described was to win a Government reward of £100, offered to any +person bringing about a friendly understanding with the Red Indians. +Another native woman, Shanandithit, was brought to St. John's in 1823 +and lived there till her death in 1829. She is supposed to have been +the last survivor. Sir Richard Bonnycastle, who has an interesting +chapter on this subject, saw her miniature, which, he says, "without +being handsome, shows a pleasing countenance." + + * * * * * + +Before closing this introductory chapter a few figures may be usefully +given for reference to illustrate the present condition of the +island.[3] At the end of 1917 the population, including that of +Labrador, was 256,500, of whom 81,200 were Roman Catholics and 78,000 +members of the Church of England. The estimated public revenue for the +year 1917-18 was 5,700,000 dollars; the estimated expenditure was +5,450,000 dollars. In the same year the public debt was about +35,450,000 dollars. The estimated revenue for 1918-19 was 6,500,000 +dollars; expenditure, 5,400,000 dollars. In 1898 the imports from the +United Kingdom amounted to £466,925, and the exports to the United +Kingdom to £524,367. In the year 1917-18 the distribution of trade was +mainly as follows: imports from the United Kingdom, 2,248,781 dollars; +from Canada, 11,107,642 dollars; from the United States, 12,244,746 +dollars; exports to the United Kingdom, 3,822,931 dollars; to Canada, +2,750,990 dollars; to the United States, 7,110,322 dollars. The +principal imports in 1916-17 were flour, hardware, textiles, +provisions, coal, and machinery; the chief exports were dried cod, +pulp and paper, iron and copper ore, cod and seal oil, herrings, +sealskins, and tinned lobsters. In 1917 there were 888 miles of +railway open, of which 841 were Government-owned; and there are over +4600 miles of telegraph line. The tonnage of vessels entered and +cleared at Newfoundland ports in 1916-17 was 2,191,006 tons, of which +1,818,016 tons were British. The number of sailing and steam vessels +registered on December 31st, 1917, was 3496. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] "A Historical Geography of the British Colonies." Vol. v. Part 4. +Newfoundland. (Oxford, 1911.) + +[2] _Op. cit._, p. 192. + +[3] In view of the nature and object of the present book, only a few +figures can be given here; fuller information can easily be obtained +in several of the works referred to herein, and more particularly in +the various accessible Year Books. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE AGE OF DISCOVERY (1497-1502) + + +"If this should be lost," said Sir Walter Raleigh of Newfoundland, "it +would be the greatest blow that was ever given to England." The +observation was marked by much political insight. Two centuries later, +indeed, the countrymen of Raleigh experienced and outlived a shock far +more paralyzing than that of which he was considering the possible +effects; but when the American colonies were lost the world destiny of +England had already been definitely asserted, and the American +loyalists were able to resume the allegiance of their birth by merely +crossing the Canadian frontier. When Raleigh wrote, Newfoundland was +the one outward and visible sign of that Greater England in whose +future he was a passionate believer. Therefore, inasmuch as +Newfoundland, being the oldest of all the English colonies, stood for +the Empire which was to be, the moral effects of its loss in infancy +would have been irretrievably grave. How nearly it was lost will +appear in the following pages. + +Newfoundland, as was fitting for one of the largest islands in the +world, and an island, too, drawing strategic importance from its +position, was often conspicuous in that titanic struggle between +England and France for sea power, and therefore for the mastery of the +world, which dwarfs every other feature of the eighteenth century. Nor +did she come out of the struggle quite unscathed. Ill-informed or +indifferent politicians in the Mother Country neglected to push home +the fruits of victory on behalf of the colony which the struggle had +convulsed, and the direct consequence of this neglect may be seen in +the French fishery claims, which long distracted the occasional +leisure of the Colonial Office. Newfoundland has indeed been hardened +by centuries of trial. For years its growth was arrested by the +interested jealousy of English merchants; and its maturity was vexed +by French exactions, against which Canada or Australia would long ago +have procured redress. Newfoundland has been the patient Griselda of +the Empire, and the story of her triumph over moral and material +difficulties--over famine, sword, fire, and internal dissension--fills +a striking chapter in the history of British expansion. + +That keen zest for geographical discovery, which was one of the most +brilliant products of the Renaissance, was slow in making its +appearance in England. Nor are the explanations far to seek. The bull +(1494) of a notorious Pope (Alexander VI.)--lavish, as befits one who +bestows a thing which he cannot enjoy himself, and of which he has no +right to dispose--had allocated the shadowy world over the sea to +Spain and Portugal, upon a fine bold principle of division; and +immediately afterwards these two Powers readjusted their boundaries in +the unknown world by the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), which could +not, however, be considered as binding third parties. The line of +longitude herein adopted was commonly held to have assigned +Newfoundland to Portugal, but the view was incorrect. England was +still a Catholic country, and for all its independence of the Pope in +matters temporal, the effects of such a bull must have been very +considerable. Nor did the personal character of Henry VII. incline him +to the path of adventure; and on the few occasions when he was goaded +to enterprise, almost in spite of himself, we are able to admire the +prudence of a prince who was careful to insert two clauses in his +charter of adventure: the first protecting himself against liability +for the cost, the second stipulating for a share of the profits. It is +to the robust insight of Henry VIII. into the conditions of our +national existence that the beginnings of the English Navy are to be +ascribed, and it was under this stubborn prince that English trade +began to depend upon English bottoms. But the real explanation of +Anglo-Saxon backwardness lies somewhat deeper. Foreign adventure and +the planting of settlements must proceed, if they are to be +successful, from an exuberant State; neither in resources, nor in +population, nor, perhaps it must be added, in the spirit of adventure, +was the England of King Henry VII. sufficiently equipped. Hence it +happened that foreign vessels sailed up the Thames, or anchored by the +quays of Bideford in the service of English trade, at a time when the +spirit of Prince Henry the Navigator had breathed into the Portuguese +service, when Diaz was discovering the Cape, and the tiny vessels of +Da Gama were adventuring the immense voyage to Cathay. + +It is now clearly established that the earliest adventurers in America +were men of Norse stock. More than a thousand years ago Greenland was +explored by Vikings from Iceland, and a hundred years later Leif +Ericsson discovered a land--Markland, the land of woods--which is +plausibly identified with Newfoundland. Still keeping a southern +course, the adventurer came to a country where grew vines, and where +the climate was strangely mild; it is likely enough that this landfall +was in Massachusetts or Virginia. The name Vinland was given to the +newly-discovered country. The later voyages of Thorwald Ericsson, of +Thorlstein Ericsson--both brothers of Leif--and of Thorfinn Karlsefne, +are recounted in the Sagas. The story of these early colonists or +"builders," as they called themselves, is weakened by an infusion of +fable, such as the tale of the fast-running one-legged people; but +with all allowances, the fact of Viking adventure on the American +mainland is unquestioned and unquestionable, though we may say of +these brave sailors, with Professor Goldwin Smith, that nothing more +came of their visit, or in that age could come, than of the visit of a +flock of seagulls. + +It has been asserted by some writers that Basque navigators discovered +the American continent a century before Cabot or Columbus; but +evidence in support of such claims is either wanting or unconvincing. +"Ingenious and romantic theories," says a critic of these views, "have +been propounded concerning discoveries of America by Basque sailors +before Columbus. The whale fishery of that period and long afterwards +was in the hands of the Basques, and it is asserted that, in following +the whales, as they became scarcer, farther and farther out in the +western ocean, they came upon the coasts of Newfoundland a hundred +years before Columbus and Cabot. No solid foundation can be found for +these assertions. The records of the Basque maritime cities contain +nothing to confirm them, and these assertions are mixed up with so +much that is absurd--such as a statement that the Newfoundland Indians +spoke Basque--that the whole hypothesis is incredible."[4] + +The question has been much discussed whether Columbus or Cabot in +later days rediscovered the American mainland. It does not, perhaps, +much matter whether the honour belongs to an Italian employed by Spain +or an Italian employed by England; and it is the less necessary to ask +whether Cabot explored the mainland before Columbus touched at Paria, +that in any event the real credit of the adventure belongs to the +great Spanish sailor. It is well known that Columbus thought, as Cabot +thought after him, that he was discovering a new and short route to +India by the west. Hence was given the name West Indies to the islands +which Columbus discovered; hence the company which administered the +affairs of Hindostan was distinguished as the East India Company. +Hence, too, the spiritual welfare of the Great Khan engaged the +attention of both Columbus and Cabot, whereas, in fact, this potentate +(if, indeed, he existed) was secluded from their disinterested zeal by +a vast continent, and thousands of miles of ocean. These +misconceptions were based on a strange underestimate of the +circumference of the world, but they add, if possible, to our wonder +at the courage of Columbus. Sailing day after day into the unknown, +with tiny ships and malcontent crews, he never faltered in his +purpose, and never lost faith in his theory. When he landed at +Guanahana (Watling's Island) he saw in the Bahamas the Golden +Cyclades, and bethought him how he might convey to the Great Khan the +letters of his Royal patron. He saw in the west coast of Juana the +mainland of Cathay, and in the waters which wash the shores of Cuba he +sought patiently, but vainly, for the Golden Chersonese and the +storied land of the Ganges. + +John Cabot inherited both the truth and the error of Columbus. His +career is one of those irritating mysteries which baffle the most +patient inquiry. Born at Genoa, and naturalized in 1476 at Venice +after fifteen years' residence, he seems to have settled in England +eight or nine years before the close of the fifteenth century. Already +his life had been an adventurous one. We catch glimpses of him at long +intervals: now at Mecca, pushing curious inquiries into the region +whence came the spice caravans; now in Spain, under the spell, +perhaps, of the novel speculations of Toscanelli and Columbus; now +plying his trade as a maker of charts in Bristol or on the Continent. +The confusion between John Cabot and his son Sebastian adds to the +uncertainty. Those who impute to Sebastian Cabot a cuckoo-like +appropriation of his father's glory are able to support their opinion +with weighty evidence. The most astounding feature of all is that the +main incidents of a voyage which attracted as much attention as the +first voyage of John Cabot should so soon have passed into oblivion. + +Marking the boundary as clearly as possible between what is certain +and what is probable, we find that on March 5th, 1496, Henry VII. +granted a charter in the following terms: + +"Be it known to all that we have given and granted to our well-beloved +John Cabot, citizen of Venice, and to Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctus, +sons of the said John, and to their heirs and deputies ... authority +to sail to all parts, countries, and seas of the East, of the West, +and of the North, under our banner and ensigns, with five ships, and +to set up our banner on any new found land, as our vassals and +lieutenants, upon their own proper costs and charges to seek out and +discover whatsoever isles ... of the heathen and infidels, which +before the time have been unknown to all Christians...." + +No sooner was the patent granted than the vigilant Spanish ambassador +in London wrote to his master King Ferdinand, that a second Columbus +was about to achieve for the English sovereign what Columbus had +achieved for the Spanish, but "without prejudice to Spain or +Portugal." In reply to this communication Ferdinand directed his +informer to warn King Henry that the project was a snare laid by the +King of France to divest him from greater and more profitable +enterprises, and that in any case the rights of the signatory parties +under the Treaty of Tordesillas would thereby be invaded. However, the +voyage contemplated in the charter was begun in 1497, in defiance of +the Spanish warning and arrogant pretensions. It will be noticed that +the charter extends its privileges to the sons of John Cabot. It is +better, with Mr Justice Prowse, to see in this circumstance a proof of +the prudence of the adventurer, who prolonged the duration of his +charter by the inclusion of his infant sons, than to infer in the +absence of evidence that any of them was his companion. According to +one often quoted authority, Sebastian Cabot claimed in later life not +merely to have taken part in the expedition, but to have been its +commander,[5] and placed it after his father's death. Against this +claim, if it was ever made, we must notice that in the Royal licence +for the second voyage the newly found land is said to have been +discovered by John Cabotto. It is impossible to say with certainty how +many ships took part in Cabot's voyage. An old tradition, depending +upon an unreliable manuscript,[6] says that Cabot's own ship was +called the _Matthew_, a vessel of about fifty tons burden, and manned +by sixteen Bristol seamen and one Burgundian. It is probable that the +voyage began early in May, and it is certain that Cabot was back in +England by August 10th, for on that date we find the following entry +in the Privy Purse expenses of Henry VII., revealing a particularly +stingy recognition of the discoverer's splendid service, which, +however, was soon afterwards recognized less unhandsomely: + +"1497, Aug. 10th.--To hym that found the New Isle, £10."[7] + +The only reliable contemporary authorities on the subject of John +Cabot's first voyage are the family letters of Lorenzo Pasqualigo, a +Venetian merchant resident in London, to his brother, and the official +correspondence of Raimondo di Raimondi, Archpriest of Soncino. The +latter's account is somewhat vague. He says, in his letters to Duke +Sforza of Milan, August 24th, and December 18th, 1497, that Cabot, +"passing Ibernia on the west, and then standing towards the north, +began to navigate the eastern ocean, leaving in a few days the north +star on the right hand, and having wandered a good deal he came at +last to firm land.... This Messor Zoanni Caboto," he proceeds, "has +the description of the world in a chart, and also in a solid globe +which he has made, and he shows where he landed." Raimondo adds that +Cabot discovered two islands, one of which he gave to his barber and +the other to a Burgundian friend, who called themselves Counts, whilst +the commander assumed the airs of a prince.[8] + +We have from the Venetian, Pasqualigo, a letter, dated August 23rd, +1497, which was probably a fortnight or three weeks after the return +of Cabot. According to this authority, Cabot discovered land 700 +leagues away, the said land being the territory of the Great Khan (the +"Gram cham"). He coasted along this land for 300 leagues, and on the +homeward voyage sighted two islands, on which, after taking possession +of them, he hoisted the Venetian as well as the English flag. "He +calls himself the grand admiral, walks abroad in silk attire, and +Englishmen run after him like madmen."[9] It is easy to overrate the +reliability of such letters as those of Pasqualigo and Raimondo, and +Pasqualigo's statement that Cabot sailed from Bristol to this new +land, coasted for 300 leagues along it, and returned within a period +of three months, is impossible to accept. At the same time, the +accounts given by these writers occur, one in the frank intimacy of +family correspondence, the other in the official reports of a +diplomatic representative to his chief. They are both unquestionably +disinterested, and are very much more valuable than the later +tittle-tattle of Peter Martyr and Ramusio, which has plainly filtered +through what Mr Beazley would call Sebastianized channels. + +[Illustration: NEWFOUNDLAND in Relation to WESTERN EUROPE] + +A keen controversy has raged as to the exact landfall of John Cabot in +his 1497 voyage, and it cannot be said that a decisive conclusion has +followed. A long tradition (fondly repeated by Mr Justice Prowse) +finds the landfall in Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland. It is difficult to +say more than that it may have been so; it may too have been in Cape +Breton Island, or even some part of the coast of Labrador. In any +case, whether or not Cabot found his landfall in Newfoundland, he must +have sighted it in the course of his voyage. It may be mentioned here +by way of caution that the name Newfoundland was specialized in later +times so as to apply to the island alone, and that it was at first +used indifferently to describe all the territories discovered by +Cabot. + +As no true citizen of Newfoundland will surrender the belief that Cape +Bonavista was in fact the landfall of Cabot, it seems proper to insert +in the story of the island, for what they are worth, the nearest +contemporary accounts of Cabot's voyage. They are more fully collected +in Mr Beazley's monograph,[10] to which I am indebted for the +translations which follow. The first account is contained, as has +already been pointed out, in a letter written by Raimondo di Raimondi +to the Duke of Milan: + +"Most illustrious and excellent my Lord,--Perhaps among your +Excellency's many occupations, you may not be displeased to learn how +His Majesty here has won a part of Asia without a stroke of the sword. +There is in this kingdom a Venetian fellow, Master John Cabot by name, +of a fine mind, greatly skilled in navigation, who, seeing that those +most serene kings, first he of Portugal, and then the one of Spain, +have occupied unknown islands, determined to make a like acquisition +for His Majesty aforesaid. And having obtained Royal grants that he +should have the usufruct of all that he should discover, provided that +the ownership of the same is reserved to the Crown, with a small ship +and eighteen persons he committed himself to fortune. And having set +out from Bristol, a western port of this kingdom, and passed the +western limits of Hibernia, and then standing to the northward, he +began to steer eastwards [meaning westwards], leaving, after a few +days, the North Star on his right hand. And having wandered about +considerably, at last he fell in with _terra firma_, where, having +planted the Royal banner and taken possession in the behalf of this +King; and having taken several tokens, he has returned thence. The +said Master John, as being foreign-born and poor, would not be +believed, if his comrades, who are almost all Englishmen and from +Bristol, did not testify that what he says is true. + +"This Master John has the description of the world in a chart, and +also in a solid globe which he has made, and he [or it] shows where +he landed, and that going toward the east [again for west] he passed +considerably beyond the country of the Tansis. And they say that it is +a very good and temperate country, and they think that Brazil wood and +silks grow there; and they affirm that that sea is covered with +fishes, which are caught not only with the net but with baskets, a +stone being tied to them in order that the baskets may sink in the +water. And this I heard the said Master John relate, and the aforesaid +Englishmen, his comrades, say that they will bring so many fish, that +this kingdom will no longer have need of Iceland, from which country +there comes a very great store of fish called stock-fish +('stockfissi'). But Master John has set his mind on something greater; +for he expects to go further on towards the east [again for west] from +that place already occupied, constantly hugging the shore, until he +shall be over against [or on the other side of] an island, by him +called Cimpango, situated in the equinoctial region, where he thinks +all the spices of the world and also the precious stones originate. +And he says that in former times he was at Mecca, whither spices are +brought by caravans from distant countries, and these [caravans] again +say that they are brought to them from other remote regions. And he +argues thus--that if the Orientals affirmed to the Southerners that +these things come from a distance from them, and so from hand to +hand, presupposing the rotundity of the earth, it must be that the +last ones get them at the north, toward the west. And he said it in +such a way that, having nothing to gain or lose by it, I too believe +it; and, what is more, the King here, who is wise and not lavish, +likewise puts some faith in him; for, since his return he has made +good provision for him, as the same Master John tells me. And it is +said that in the spring His Majesty aforenamed will fit out some ships +and will besides give him all the convicts, and they will go to that +country to make a colony, by means of which they hope to establish in +London a greater storehouse of spices than there is in Alexandria, and +the chief men of the enterprise are of Bristol, great sailors, who, +now that they know where to go, say that it is not a voyage of more +than fifteen days, nor do they ever have storms after they get away +from Hibernia. I have also talked with a Burgundian, a comrade of +Master John's, who confirms everything, and wishes to return thither +because the Admiral (for so Master John already entitles himself) has +given him an island; and he has given another one to a barber of his +from Castiglione, of Genoa, and both of them regard themselves as +Counts, nor does my Lord the Admiral esteem himself anything less than +a prince. I think that with this expedition will go several poor +Italian monks, who have all been promised bishoprics. And as I have +become a friend of the Admiral's, if I wished to go thither, I should +get an Archbishopric. But I have thought that the benefices which your +Excellency has in store for me are a surer thing." + +To those who, in the teeth of contemporary evidence, prefer the claims +of Sebastian, the following extracts may be offered; the first from +Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, who wrote in the early sixteenth century, the +second from Ramusio. Martyr writes: + +"These north seas have been searched by one Sebastian Cabot, a +Venetian born, whom, being yet but in matter an infant, his parents +carried with them into England, having occasion to resort thither for +trade of merchandises, as is the manner of the Venetians to leave no +part of the world unsearched to obtain riches. He therefore furnished +two ships in England at his own charges; and, first, with 300 men, +directed his course so far towards the North Pole, that even in the +month of July he found monstrous heaps of ice swimming in the sea, and +in manner continual daylight, yet saw he the land in that tract free +from ice, which had been molten by heat of the sun. Thus, seeing such +heaps of ice before him, he was enforced to turn his sails and follow +the west, so coasting still by the shore he was thereby brought so far +into the south, by reason of the land bending so much southward, that +it was there almost equal in latitude with the sea called Fretum +Herculeum [Straits of Gibraltar], having the North Pole elevate in +manner in the same degree. He sailed likewise in this tract so far +toward the west that he had the Island of Cuba [on] his left hand in +manner in the same degree of longitude. As he travelled by the coasts +of this great land, which he named Baccallaos [cod-fish country], he +saith that he found the like course of the water towards the west +[_i.e._ as before described by Martyr], but the same to run more +softly and gently than the swift waters which the Spaniards found in +their navigation southward.... Sebastian Cabot himself named those +lands Baccallaos, because that in the seas thereabout he found so +great multitudes of certain big fish much like unto tunnies (which the +inhabitants called Baccallaos) that they sometimes stayed his ships. +He found also the people of those regions covered with beasts' skins, +yet not without the use of reason. He saith also that there is great +plenty of bears in those regions, which used to eat fish. For, +plunging themselves into the water where they perceive a multitude of +those fish to lie, they fasten their claws in their scales, and so +draw them to land and eat them. So that, as he saith, the bears being +thus satisfied with fish, are not noisome to men." + +Ramusio represents Sebastian Cabot as making the following statement: + +"When my father departed from Venice many years since to dwell in +England, to follow the trade of merchandises, he took me with him to +the city of London while I was very young, yet having nevertheless +some knowledge of letters, of humanity, and of the sphere. And when my +father died, in that time when news were brought that Don Christopher +Colombus, the Genoese, had discovered the coasts of India, whereof was +great talk in all the Court of King Henry the Seventh, who then +reigned; in so much that all men, with great admiration, affirmed it +to be a thing more divine than human to sail by the west into the +east, where spices grow, by a way that was never known before; by +which fame and report there increased in my heart a great flame of +desire to attempt some notable thing. And understanding by reason of +the sphere that if I should sail by way of the north-west wind I +should by a shorter track come to India, I thereupon caused the King +to be advertised of my device, who immediately commanded two caravels +to be furnished with all things appertaining to the voyage, which was, +as far as I remember, in the year 1496 in the beginning of summer. +Beginning therefore to sail toward north-west, nor thinking to find +any other land than that of Cathay, and from thence to turn towards +India, after certain days I found that the land ran toward the north, +which was to me a great displeasure. Nevertheless, sailing along by +the coast to see if I could find any gulf that turned, I found the +land still continent to the 56th degree under our Pole. And seeing +that there the coast turned toward the east, despairing to find the +passage, I turned back again and sailed down by the coast of that land +toward the equinoctial (ever with intent to find the said passage to +India) and came to that part of this firm land which is now called +Florida; where, my victuals failing, I departed from thence and +returned into England, where I found great tumults among the people +and preparation for the war to be carried into Scotland; by reason +whereof there was no more consideration had to this voyage."[11] + +The discoveries of Cabot were appreciated by Henry VII., a prince who +rarely indulged in unprovoked benefactions, for on December 13th, +1497, we find a grant of an annual pension to Cabot of £20 a year, +worth between £200 and £300 in modern money (a pension that was drawn +twice): + +"We let you wit that we for certain considerations as specially +moving, have given and granted unto our well-beloved John Cabot, of +the parts of Venice, an annuity or annual rent of £20 sterling."[12] +It is material to notice that Sebastian, so considerable a figure in +the later accounts, is not mentioned in this grant. So it has been +observed that John Cabot is mentioned alone in the charter for the +second voyage; the authority is given explicitly to "our well-beloved +John Kabotto, Venetian." Apparently the second voyage was begun in +May, 1498, but a cloud of obscurity besets the attempt to determine +its results. It is noted in the Records under 1498 that Sebastian +Gaboto, "a Genoa's son," obtained from the King a vessel "to search +for an island which he knew to be replenished with rich commodities." +It is likely enough that Sebastian Cabot took part in this voyage, as +indeed he may have done in the earlier one; but it is clear that John +Sebastian was present in person, for Raimondo describes an interview +in which John unfolds his scheme for proceeding from China (which he +imagined himself to have discovered) to Japan. + +This brief account of the Cabots, so far as their voyages relate +particularly to Newfoundland, may be closed by some further citations +from the Privy Purse expenses of Henry VII.: + +"1498, March 24th.--To Lanslot Thirkill of London, upon a prest for +his shipp going towards the New Ilande, £20. + +"April 1st.--To Thomas Bradley and Lanslot Thirkill, going to the New +Isle, £30. + +"1503, Sept. 30th.--To the merchants of Bristoll that have been in the +Newfounde Lande, £20. + +"1504, Oct. 17th.--To one that brought hawkes from the Newfounded +Island, £1. + +"1505. Aug. 25th.--To Clays goying to Richemount, with wylde catts and +popynjays of the Newfound Island, for his costs 13s. 4d."[13] + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] Stanford's "Compendium of Geography and Travel" (New Issue). North +America, vol. i. Canada and Newfoundland. Edited by H.M. Ami (London, +1915), p. 1007. + +[5] See the excellent contribution of Mr Raymond Beazley to the +"Builders of Greater Britain" Series--"John and Sebastian Cabot." + +[6] The Fust MSS., Mill Court, Gloucestershire. + +[7] S. Bentley, "Excerpts Historica" (1831), p. 113. + +[8] These letters, together with other relative documents, are given +in the publication of the Italian Columbian Royal Commission: "Reale +Commissione Colombiana: Raccolta di Documenti e Studi" (Rome, 1893), +Part 3, vol. i., pp. 196-198. + +[9] "Reale Commissione Colombiana: Raccolta di Documenti e Studi" +(Rome, 1893), Part 3, vol. ii., p. 109: "Calendar of State Papers," +Venetian Series, vol. i., p. 262. + +[10] The more authoritative Italian source has already been indicated. + +[11] The testimony of both Peter Martyr and Ramusio, and of others, +like Gomara and Fabyan, who support the claims of Sebastian as against +John Cabot, does not now find favour; _cf._ Rogers, _op. cit._, p. 14. + +[12] Custom's Roll of the Port of Bristol, 1496-9, edited by E. Scott, +A.E. Hudd, etc. (1897). + +[13] See Hakluyt Society Publications (1850), vol. vii., p. lxii. +Bentley, _op. cit._, pp. 126, 129, 131. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +EARLY HISTORY. AGE OF IMPERFECT COLONIZATION + + +The motives and projects of the early English colonizers are thus +aptly described by a recent writer already referred to:[14] "The +colonizers were actuated by three different kinds of definite ideas, +and definite colonization was threefold in its character. In the first +place, there were men who were saturated in the old illusions and +ideas, and intended colonization as a means to an end, the end being +the gold and silver and spices of Asia. Secondly, there were +fishermen, who went to Newfoundland for its own sake, in order to +catch fish for the European market, who were without illusions or +ideas or any wish to settle, and who belonged to many nations, and +thwarted but also paved the way for more serious colonizers. Thirdly, +there were idealists who wished to colonize for colonization's sake +and to make England great; but in order to make England great they +thought it necessary to humble Spain in the dust, and their ideas were +destructive as well as creative. All these colonizers had their +special projects, and each project, being inspired by imperfect +ideals, failed more or less, or changed its character from time to +time. The first and third projects were at one time guided by the same +hand; but the first project gradually cast off its colonizing slough, +and resolved itself once more into discovery for discovery's sake; and +the third project ceased to be a plan of campaign, and resolved itself +into sober and peaceful schemes for settling in the land. Even the +second project, which was unled, uninspired, unnational, and almost +unconscious, and which began and continued as though in obedience to +some irresistible and unchangeable natural and economic law, assumed +different shapes and semblances, as it blended or refused to blend +with the patriotic projects of the idealists. These three types of +colonization..., though they tended on different directions, ... were +hardly distinguishable in the earlier phases of their history. Perhaps +a fourth type should be added, but this fourth type was what +naturalists call an aberrant type, and only comprised two colonizers, +Rut and Hore, whose aims were indistinct, and who had no clear idea +where they meant to go, or what they meant to do when they got there." + +After the first discovery of Newfoundland and the adjoining coast, +English official interest in the island declined, and English traders +were occupied for the time being with their intercourse with Iceland, +whence they obtained all the codfish they had need of. The new field +of exploration and enterprise was thus left for some twenty years to +others. At the beginning of the sixteenth century Gaspar Cortereal, a +brave Portuguese sailor, having obtained a commission from the King of +Portugal, made two voyages (in 1500 and 1501) with the object of +discovering a north-west passage to Asia, explored the coasts of +Greenland, Labrador, and Newfoundland, and finally lost his life on +the coast of Labrador (1501).[15] On the ground of these discoveries, +reinforced by the title conferred by the bull of Alexander VI., the +Portuguese asserted their claim to Newfoundland. Henceforward +Portuguese fishermen began to share the dangers and profits of the cod +fishery with the hardy folk of Normandy and Brittany, and with +Spaniards and Basques, who had followed fast in the footsteps of the +earliest discoverers. Hence we find that many names of places and the +east coast of the island are corruptions of Portuguese words, whilst +names on the south coast show a French or a Basque origin.[16] + +In a sense it is true that Newfoundland has owed everything to its +fisheries, but it is unfortunately also true that a sharp dissidence +between the interests of alien fisheries and the policy of local +development did much to retard the days of permanent settlement. That +the more southern races of Europe took a large part in the development +of the fisheries was only natural, inasmuch as the principal markets +for the dried and salted codfish were in the Catholic countries of +Europe. Continuously from the beginning of the sixteenth century the +opening of each season brought vessels of many nationalities to a +harvest which sufficed for all. We cannot say that at this time any +primacy was claimed for English vessels, but there is no reason to +doubt that Englishmen soon played a conspicuous part in opening up the +trade. By the time of Henry VIII. the Newfoundland industry was +sufficiently well known to be included with the Scotch and Irish +Fisheries in an exception clause to a statute which forbade the +importation of foreign fish. + +This statute is sufficiently noteworthy as an economic curiosity to be +set forth _in extenso_. + + "ACT 33 HENRY VIII., c. xi. + + "The Bill conceryning bying of fisshe upon the see. + + "Whereas many and dyvers townes and portes by the see side + have in tymes past bene in great welthe and prosperitie well + buylded by using and exercysing the crafts and feate of + fisshing by the whiche practise it was not onelie great + strengthe to this Realme by reason of bringing up and + encreasing of Maryners whensoever the King's Grace had neede + of them but also a great welthe to the Realme and habundance + of suche wherebie oure sovereigne Lorde the King the Lords + Gentilmen and Comons were alwais well served of fisshe in + Market townes of a reasonable price and also by reason of the + same fisshing many men were made and grewe riche and many + poure Men and women had therebie there convenyent lyving--to + the strengthe encreasing and welthe of this realme. + + "And whereas many and dyvers of the saide fissherman for their + singular lucre and advantage doe leve the said crafte of + fisshing and be confederate w Pycardes Flemynghes Norman and + Frenche-men and sometyme sayle over into the costes of + Pycardie and Flaunders and sometyme doo meete the said + Pycardes and Flemynghes half the see over. + + "Penalty on subjects bying fishe in Flaunders &c., or at sea + to be sold in England, £10. + + "And be it furder enacted by the auctoritie aforesaide that it + shall be lawful to all and every fissher estraunger to come + and to sell. + + "Provided furthermore that this Act or any thing therein + conteyned shall not extende to any person whiche shall bye eny + fisshe in any parties of Iseland, Scotlands, Orkeney, + Shotlande, Ireland, or Newland [Newfoundland]." + +The caution, however, suggested above must be borne in mind in +noticing the earliest mention of Newfoundland; the name was +indiscriminately applied to the island itself and to the neighbouring +coasts, so that it is for some time impossible to be sure whether it +is employed in the wide or narrow sense. It is certain, however, that +the island was becoming well known. Its position as the nearest point +to Europe made it familiar to the band of Northerly explorers. +Verrazzano, a Florentine, in the service of France, determined to +discover a western way to Cathay, sailed along America northward from +North Carolina, and placed the French flag on the territory lying +between New Spain and Newfoundland, which newly acquired territory was +thenceforth designated Norumbega or New France. All such original +annexations, whether pretended or real, were in the circumstances +extremely ill-defined; and maps of the time were frequently vague, +confusing, and contradictory. Cartier, on his way to sow the seeds of +a French Empire in North America, sailed past the coast (1534), and on +his second voyage (1535) foregathered with Roberval in the roadstead +of St. John's. Still earlier, in 1527, a voyage was made to the island +by John Rut, with the countenance of Henry VIII. and encouragement of +Cardinal Wolsey, but the authorities for this voyage are late and +unreliable. Purchas reproduces a valuable letter from John Rut (who +was a better sailor than scholar) to the King, from which it appears +that he found in the harbour of St. John's "eleven saile of Normans +and one Brittaine, and two Portugall barks, and all a fishing," as +well as two English trade-ships.[17] + +The later adventure--"voyage of discovery"--of Master Hore, in 1536, +which was undertaken "by the King's favour," is inimitably told by +Hakluyt. His co-adventurers are described as "many gentlemen of the +Inns of Court and of the Chancerie"; there were also a number of +east-country merchants. After missing their proper course, and almost +starving, they were succoured by a French vessel off the coast of +Newfoundland. The gentlemen of the long robe had been out of their +element up to this encounter, but Judge Prowse notes with proper +professional pride the tribute of Hakluyt: "Such was the policie of +the English that they became masters of [the French ship], and +changing ships and vittailing them, they set sail to come into +England." The extremities to which these adventurers were reduced +before their relief is horribly illustrated by the narrative of +Hakluyt: + +"Whilst they lay there they were in great want of provision and they +found small relief, more than that they had from the nest of an +osprey (or eagle) that brought hourly to her young great plenty of +divers sorts of fishes. But such was the famine amongst them that they +were forced to eat raw herbs and roots, which they sought for in the +maine. But the relief of herbs being not sufficient to satisfie their +craving appetites, when in the deserts in search of herbage, the +fellow killed his mate while hee stouped to take up a root, and +cutting out pieces of his body whom he had murthered, broyled the same +on the coals and greedily devoured them. By this means the company +decreased and the officers knew not what was become of them."[18] + +For many years we must be content with the knowledge that the fishing +resources of Newfoundland were growing in reputation and popularity. +Now and then the curtain is lifted, and we catch a glimpse of life on +the island. Thus Anthony Parkhurst, a Bristol merchant, who had made +the voyage himself four times, notes in 1578, in a letter written to +Hakluyt containing a report of the true state and commodities of +Newfoundland, that "there were generally more than 100 sail of +Spaniards taking cod, and from 20 to 30 killing whales; 50 sail of +Portuguese; 150 sail of French and Bretons ... but of English only 50 +sail. Nevertheless, the English are commonly lords of the harbours +where they fish, and use all strangers' help in fishing, if need +require, according to an old custom of the country."[19] + +Clearer still is our information when the ill-fated Sir Humphrey +Gilbert, the half-brother of Raleigh, visited the island in 1583. +Already in 1574 Gilbert, together with Sir Richard Grenville, Sir +George Peckham and Christopher Carleill, applied for a patent with a +view to colonizing "the northern parts of America"; but, though a sum +of money was raised in Bristol for this object, the scheme fell +through. Gilbert's perseverance, however, was by no means checked. For +in 1577 he submitted a project to Lord Burleigh, asking for authority +to discover and colonize strange lands, and incidentally to seize +Spanish prizes and establish English supremacy over the seas. The +following year he received a patent to discover, colonize, fortify, +own and rule territories not in the possession of friendly Christian +Powers--subject to the prerogation of the Crown and the claims of the +Crown to a fifth part of the gold and silver obtained. His settlements +were to be made within a period of six years. Having obtained the +support of such men as Sir George Peckham, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir +Philip Sidney, Richard Hakluyt, Thomas Aldworth, as well as of Sir +Francis Walsingham, the anti-Spanish minister, and of Bristol +merchants,[20] Gilbert set sail on June 11th, 1583, from Plymouth +with five vessels--the _Raleigh_ (200 tons) which was equipped by Sir +W. Raleigh, acting as vice-admiral, the _Delight_ (120 tons) on which +was Gilbert, as admiral, the _Swallow_ (40 tons) the _Golden Hind_ (40 +tons), and the _Squirrel_ (10 tons). Two days later the _Raleigh_ +returned on the ground, it seems, that her captain and many of her men +had fallen sick. The entire crew consisted of 260 men, including +shipwrights, masons, carpenters, smiths, miners, and refiners. They +took with them a good variety of music "for solace of our people, and +allurement of the savages"; a number of toys, "as morris dancers, +hobby horsse, and many like conceits to delight the savage people, +whom we intended to winne by all faire meanes possible"; and also a +stock of haberdashery wares for the purpose of barter. Gilbert reached +St. John's on August 3rd, 1583, with his four vessels, and found in +the harbour twenty Spanish and Portuguese ships and sixteen English +ships. The latter made ready to give battle to the newcomers; but as +soon as the English vessels were informed of the mission, "they caused +to be discharged all the great ordnance of their fleet in welcome," +and soon afterwards entertained their guests at their "summer garden." +The great importance of the errand was recognized, for it had no less +an object than to take possession of the island in the name of Queen +Elizabeth, by virtue of Cabot's discoveries, and the later acts of +occupation. Even then the small town of St. John's was not without +pretension to the amenities of social life. One, Edward Haie (or +Hayes), who was present--indeed he was the captain and owner of the +_Golden Hind_--and who has left us an account of the expedition,[21] +speaks of it as a populous and frequented place. According to the same +account, possession was taken of the territory on August 5th: "Munday +following, the General had his tent set up, who being accompanied with +his own followers, sommoned the marchants and masters, both English +and strangers to be present at his taking possession of those +countries. Before whom openly was read and interpreted unto the +strangers of his commission: by vertue whereof he tooke possession in +the same harbour of S. John, and 200 leagues every way, invested the +Queenes Majestie with the tith and dignitie thereof, had delivered +unto him (after the custome of England) a rod and a turffe of the same +soile, entring possession also for him, his heires and assignes for +ever: and signified unto al men, that from that time forward, they +should take the same land as a territorie appertaining to the Queene +of England, and himself authorized under her majestie to possesse and +enjoy it. And to ordaine lawes for the government thereof, agreeable +(so neere as conveniently might be) unto the lawes of England: under +which all people comming thither hereafter, either to inhabite, or by +way of traffique, should be subjected and governed." Gilbert's +authority was not seriously questioned; by virtue of his commission he +"ordained and established three lawes to begin with." They are given +by Hayes as follows: + + 1. Establishment of the Church of England. + + 2. Any attempt prejudicial to Her Majesty's rights in the + territory to be punished as in a case of High Treason. + + 3. Anyone uttering words of dishonour to Her Majesty should + lose his ears and have his goods and ship confiscated. + +"To be brief," concludes the same authority, "Gilbert dyd lette, +sette, give, and dispose of many things as absolute Governor there by +virtue of Her Majesty's letter patent." + +The passage in which Captain Hayes describes the Newfoundland of his +day must be of such interest to its present inhabitants that it is +worth while to set it out in full: + +"That which we doe call the Newfoundland, and the Frenchmen Bacalaos, +is an island, or rather (after the opinion of some) it consisteth of +sundry islands and broken lands, situate in the north regions of +America, upon the gulph and entrance of the great river called S. +Laurence in Canada. Into the which navigation may be made both on the +south and north side of this island. The land lyeth south and north, +containing in length betweene three and 400 miles, accounting from +Cape Race (which is in 46 degrees 25 minuts) unto the Grand Bay in 52 +degrees of septentrionall latitude. The iland round about hath very +many goodly bayes and harbors, safe roads for ships, the like not to +be found in any part of the knowen world. + +"The common opinion that is had of intemperature and extreme cold that +should be in this countrey, as of some part it may be verified, namely +the north, where I grant it is more colde than in countries of Europe, +which are under the same elevation: even so it cannot stand with +reason and nature of the clime that the south parts should be so +intemperate as the bruit hath gone. For as the same doe lie under the +climats of Briton, Aniou, Poictou, in France, between 46 and 49 +degrees, so can they not so much differ from the temperature of those +countries: unless upon the out coasts lying open unto the ocean and +sharpe winds, it must in neede be subject to more colde, then further +within the lande, where the mountaines are interposed, as walles and +bulwarkes, to defende and to resiste the asperitie and rigor of the +sea and weather. Some hold opinion, that the Newfoundland might be the +more subject to cold, by how much it lyeth high and neere unto the +middle region. I grant that not in Newfoundland alone, but in Germany, +Italy, and Afrike, even under the Equinoctiall line, the mountaines +are extreme cold, and seeldome uncovred of snow, in their culme and +highest tops, which commeth to passe by the same reason that they are +extended towards the middle region: yet in the countries lying beneth +them, it is found quite contrary. Even so all hils having their +discents, the valleis also and low grounds must be likewise hot or +temperate, as the clime doeth give in Newfoundland, though I am of +opinion that the sunnes reflection is much cooled, and cannot be so +forcible in the Newfoundland nor generally throughout America, as in +Europe or Afrike: by how much the sunne in his diurnall course from +east to west passeth over (for the most part) dry land and sandy +countries, before he arriveth at the West of Europe or Afrike, whereby +his motion increaseth heate, with little or no qualification by moyst +vapours, where on the contraire, he passeth from Europe and Africa +unto America over the ocean, from whence it draweth and carrieth with +him abundance of moyst vapours, which doe qualifie and infeeble +greatly the sunne's reverberation upon this countrey chiefly of +Newfoundland, being so much to the northward. Neverthelesse (as I sayd +before) the cold cannot be so intollerable under the latitude of 46, +47, and 48, especiall within land, that it should be unhabitable, as +some doe suppose, seeing also there are very many people more to the +north by a great deale. And in these south partes there be certain +beastes, ounces or leopards, and birdes in like manner which in the +sommer we have seene, not heard of in countries of extreme and +vehement coldnesse. Besides, as in the monethes of June, July, August, +and September, the heate is somewhat more than in England at those +seasons: so men remaining upon the south parts neere unto Cape Rece, +until after Hollandtide, have not found the cold so extreme, nor much +differing from the temperature of England. Those which have arrived +there after November and December have found the snow exceeding deepe, +whereat no marvaile, considering the ground upon the coast is rough +and uneven, and the snow is driven into the places most declyning, as +the like is to be seen with us. The like depth of snow happily shall +not be found within land upon the playner countries, which also are +defended by the mountaines, breaking off the violence of the winds and +weather. But admitting extraordinary cold in these south parts, above +that with us here: it cannot be so great as that in Swedland, much +less in Muscovia or Russia; yet are the same countries very populous, +and the rigor of cold is dispensed with by the commoditie of stoves, +warme clothing, meats and drinkes; all which neede not to be wanting +in the Newfoundland, if we had intent there to inhabite. + +"In the south parts we found no inhabitants, which by all likelihood +have abandoned those coastes, the same being so much frequented by +Christians: but in the north are savages altogether harmlesse. +Touching the commodities of this countrie, serving either for +sustentation of inhabitants, or for maintenance of traffique, there +are and may be made; so and it seemeth Nature hath recompensed that +only defect and incommoditie of some sharpe cold, by many benefits: +viz., with incredible quantitie and no less varietie of kindes of fish +in the sea and fresh waters, as trouts, salmons, and other fish to us +unknowen: also cod, which alone draweth many nations thither, and is +become the most famous fishing of the world. Abundance of whales, for +which also is a very great trade in the bayes of Placentia, and the +Grand Bay, where is made trane oiles of the whale. Herring, the +largest that have been heard of, and exceeding the alstrond herring of +Norway: but hitherto was never benefit taken of the herring fishery. +There are sundry other fish very delicate, namely the bonits, +lobsters, turbut, with others infinite not sought after: oysters +having pearle but not orient in colour: I took it by reason they were +not gathered in season. + +"Concerning the inland commodities as wel to be drawen from this land, +as from the exceeding large countries adioyning; there is nothing +which our east and northerly countries doe yeelde, but the like also +may be made in them as plentifully by time and industrie: namely, +rosen, pitch, tarre, sope, ashes, deel boord, mastes for ships, hides, +furres, flaxe, hempe, corne, cables, cordage, linnen-cloth, mettals, +and many more. All which the countries will aford, and the soyle is +apt to yeelde. + +"The trees for the most in those south parts, are firre trees, pine +and cypresse, all yielding gumme and turpentine. Cherrie trees bearing +fruit no bigger than a small pease. Also peare trees, but fruitlesse. +Other trees of some sorts to us unknowen. + +"The soyle along the coast is not deepe of earth, bringing foorth +abundantly peason, small, yet good feeding for cattel. Roses, passing +sweet, like unto our mucke roses in forme, raspases, a berry which we +call harts, good and holesome to eat. The grasse and herbe doth fat +sheepe in very short space, proved by English marchants which have +caried sheepe thither for fresh victuall, and had them raised +exceeding fat in lesse than three weekes. Peason which our +countrey-men have sowen in the time of May, have come up faire, and +bene gathered in the beginning of August, of which our generall had a +present acceptable for the rarenesse, being the first fruits coming up +by art and industrie, in that desolate and dishabited land. + +"We could not observe the hundredth part of these creatures in those +unhabited lands: but these mentioned may induce us to glorifie the +magnificent God, who hath superabundantly replenished the earth with +creatures serving for the use of man, though man hath not used the +fift part of the same, which the more doth aggravate the fault and +foolish slouth in many of our nation, chusing rather to live +indirectly, and very miserably to live and die within this realme +pestered with inhabitants, then to adventure as becommeth men, to +obtaine an habitation in those remote lands, in which Nature very +prodigally doth minister unto mens endeavours, and for art to worke +upon." + +The story of Gilbert's disastrous expedition and voyage home is well +known; how some of his men sailed off in a stolen vessel, some ran +away into the woods, and others falling sick were sent home in the +_Swallow_; how he set sail on August 20th (that is, after a stay on +the island of only a fortnight) with his three remaining vessels, +overloaded and under-manned as they were; how his vessels, after the +wreck of the _Delight_ off Sabre Island, were reduced to the _Golden +Hind_ and the _Squirrel_; how in a prodigious hurricane he refused to +transfer himself from the tiny _Squirrel_ to the larger vessel; and +how he died encouraging his ill-fated company--"We are as near heaven +by sea as by land." Though the expedition ended in disaster, and the +intention to found a settlement failed utterly, the bold enterprise +could not but exert a salutary influence on the hearts and souls of +other adventurers and promotors of colonization. As has been well +said:[22] "a halo of real enthusiasm illumines this foolish founder of +the greatest colonial empire in the world, and where a hero leads, +even though it be to ruin, others are apt to follow with enthusiasm, +for tragedies such as these attract by their dignity more than they +deter." More particularly, Gilbert's voyage is of great interest, +because we may reasonably associate him with the colonial ideas of his +greater half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh. The slow and difficult +process was beginning which was to make Newfoundland a permanent +settlement instead of the occasional resort of migratory fishermen. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] Rogers, _op. cit._, pp. 18-19. + +[15] The name Labrador is derived from the Portuguese word +"llavrador," which means a yeoman farmer. The name was at first given +to Greenland, and was afterwards transferred to the peninsula on the +assumption that it was part of the same territory as Greenland. The +origin of the name itself is due to the fact that the first +announcement of having seen Greenland was a farmer ("llavrador") from +the Azores. + +[16] Compare such names of places as Frenchman's Arm, Harbour Breton, +Cape Breton, Spaniard's Bay, Biscay Bay, Portugal Cove, Cape Race, +Port-aux-Basques, etc. + +[17] _Cf._ Purchas, "Pilgrims," vol. xiv. pp. 304-5. + +[18] Hakluyt, "Principal Navigations," vol. viii. p. 3. + +[19] Hakluyt, _op. cit._, vol. iii. + +[20] _Cf._ J. Latimer, "History of the Society of Merchant Venturers +of Bristol" (1903). + +[21] "A report of the voyage and successe thereof, attempted in the +yeere of our Lord 1583 by Sir Humfrey Gilbert Knight, with other +gentlemen assisting him in that action, intended to discover and to +plant Christian inhabitants in place convenient, upon those large and +ample countreys extended Northward from the cape of Florida, lying +under very temperate climes, esteemed fertile and rich in minerals, +yet not in the actuall possession of any Christian prince, written by +M. Edward Haie gentleman, and principall actour in the same voyage, +who alone continued unto the end, and by God's speciall assistance +returned home with his retinue safe and entire." See Hakluyt (ed. +1904), vol. viii. pp. 34 seq. + +[22] Rogers, _op. cit._, p. 40. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +EARLY HISTORY (_continued_). BEGINNING OF A PERFECT ENGLISH COLONY + + +We have seen that many nations shared in the profits of the +Newfoundland trade, but the English and French soon distanced all +other competitors. The explanation lies in the conflicting interests +which these two great and diffusive Powers were gradually establishing +on the American mainland. It is worth while anticipating a little in +order to gain some landmarks. In 1609 the colonization of Virginia +began in earnest; a few years later sailed the Pilgrim Fathers in the +_Mayflower_, to found New England. In 1632 Lord Baltimore founded +Maryland, to be a refuge for English Roman Catholics. Meanwhile, +France had not been idle in the great northern continent. The intrepid +Champlain trod boldly in the perilous footsteps of Cartier, and Port +Royal was founded in 1604, Quebec in 1608. Later still came the +splendid adventure of La Salle, who forced his way--a seventeenth +century Marchand--from the sources of the Mississippi to the Gulf of +Mexico, thus threatening to cut off the English settlers from +expansion to the west. A glance at the map will reveal the immense +strategic importance of Newfoundland to two Powers with the +possessions and claims indicated above. No doubt a consciousness of +deeper differences underlay the keenness of commercial rivalry. + +The hardy sailors, mainly from the west country, who carried on the +trade for England, came when the season began, and sailed away with +its close, returning in the following year to the portion of the beach +which each crew had pegged out for its own operations. A feeling of +proprietorship soon sprang from uninterrupted user, and signs of +jealousy appeared of any attempt at permanent settlement. This local +feeling, combining with interested influence at home, did much to +stunt the growth of the colony; the old colonization theory inherited +from Spain was still powerful, for the American Revolution had not yet +revealed the handwriting on the wall. + +In 1585 English vessels and sailors were seized in Spanish waters +under the pretext of a general arrest. Accordingly, by way of reprisal +Gilbert's plan of 1577 (which has already been referred to) was +revived by Walsingham, and Sir Walter Raleigh, then vice-admiral of +the western counties, was instructed to despatch vessels for the +purpose of intercepting Spanish fishermen proceeding to the +Newfoundland waters. A flotilla under the command of Sir Barnard Drake +(cousin of Sir Francis) sailed to Newfoundland, and took a +considerable number of Spanish and Portuguese prizes and prisoners. +The disaster to the Spanish Armada in 1588 was a drastic blow to +Spanish power at sea, a signal for England's maritime ascendancy, and +an impetus to more rational, consistent, and practical methods of +colonization, in which great Companies and great fleets +participated--fleets that prepared the way for the establishment and +development of our incomparable Navy, the mighty bulwark of our +Empire. The turning-point at the close of the sixteenth century is +thus indicated by Mr Rogers: "Large creative ideals, the usual +delusions about Cathay, gold, and silver, and a desire to retaliate +against Spain, inspired both Raleigh's and Gilbert's efforts; and +after their failures the history of colonization turned over a new +leaf. There were no more colonies founded in anger, the old delusions +about Cathay and gold and silver melted into thin air, and the large +Elizabethan ideals were accompanied by small projects, which after a +time dimmed and obscured them."[23] With James I. and the wise +influence of Bacon came an increased interest in the "plantations," +and God's silly vassal (as a justly irritated divine called the King +to his face) does not suffer in this respect from a comparison with +his contemporaries. + +After the colonization of Virginia and Maine had begun, Sir John +Popham, who had done much to set on foot the schemes relative to these +American settlements, recollecting the attempts that had been made to +colonize Newfoundland, suggested to the merchant adventurers of +Bristol that they should make new efforts to establish colonies on the +island. The King's support having been promised, funds were raised, +and a royal charter was granted to a company on April 27th, 1610, +designated "The Treasurer and the Company of Adventurers and Planters +of the City of London and Bristol for the Colony or Plantations in +Newfoundland." London and the West of England were thus associated, as +they had been in the Virginian Company of 1606. There were forty-six +members, including the Earl of Northampton, Sir Francis Bacon, Thomas +Aldworth, Mayor of Bristol, John Guy and Philip Guy of Bristol; and +the territory granted to them comprised the lands from Cape St. Mary +to Cape Bonavista. The same year John Guy, the first Governor, led out +the first colony to Newfoundland, landed at Conception Bay, and +selected for his capital Cuper's Cove (Port de Grave). Guy and his +companions then built a fort, a dwelling-house, a workshop, and a +boat, sowed corn, and made preparations for the winter. Next fishing +ordinances were issued by the Governor. "That struck the first note of +a conflict which was to last for 150 years, and of which the echoes +may yet be heard. The fishermen, merchants, and seamen who flocked to +the coast for the fishing season vehemently resented anything which +might seem to threaten their turbulent lawlessness, and the great +merchants in England, who were profiting by the fisheries, were +jealous lest the planters should in some way interfere with their +operations; but, for a time, the planters had sufficient influence +through the patentees in England to maintain themselves."[24] After a +sojourn of six summers--though only three winters--in Newfoundland, +Guy returned to Bristol, and spent the remainder of his life there in +his aldermanic dignity. + +He was succeeded (1615) in the Governorship by Captain John Mason who, +together with Sir Ferdinando Gorges, founded New Hampshire and Maine. +Mason stayed six years in the island; he explored it, prepared a map +of it, encouraged the growth of corn successfully, and with less +success endeavoured to establish commercial intercourse with the Red +Indians. + +In 1618 appeared the "Briefe discourse of the New-found-land by +Captain John Mason." After a discerning account of the attractions of +his theme, the writer concludes: + +"I might hear further discourse of our discoveries ... but these may +suffice as _verbum sapienti_; being of sufficient trueth to remouve +errours ... also to take away malicious and scandelous speeches of +maligne persons, who out of envy to God and good actions (instructed +by their father the Devill) have sought to despoil it of the dewe and +blamish the good name thereof." + +Disorders having occurred after Mason's arrival, Sir Richard +Whitbourne, an Exmouth sea-captain who had had many years fishing +experience in the Newfoundland waters, was despatched to investigate +the disputes between the settlers and the fishermen. He reported that +250 sail of English fishermen, and 400 of "French, Portugals, and +Biscaines" resorted to the coast. His mission failed, owing to the +dilatory nature of the inquiry and the difficulties in getting the +contesting parties to attend, as they were in scattered places. Then +the merchants, having an eye to their own profit, proceeded to divide +the occupied territory into a number of shares, which the recipients +afterwards resold.[25] "The colony from time to time shed portions of +itself, division led to sub-division, and new characters appeared upon +the scene."[26] Other companies were thus formed, charters granted, +and settlements made, most of which were confined to the peninsula of +Avalon. With these enterprises several distinguished names were +connected: for example, Sir William Vaughan, who sent out colonists in +1617 and 1618: Henry Cary, Lord Falkland, who bought land on the east +coast, called it South Falkland, despatched a number of emigrants, but +did not himself visit the island; Sir George Calvert, a leading Roman +Catholic, who took out co-religionists. + +In 1627 Sir George Calvert, better known as Lord Baltimore, was +granted by charter the fancifully named Province of Avalon (after +Avalon in Somersetshire), which embraced a considerable portion of the +island's area. Calvert established himself at Ferryland--the name +being a corruption of Verulam, so called after the great +Chancellor--and stayed only long enough to infuse a tenacious Roman +Catholic strain into the island. Finding the climate too cold, +however, he applied for a more southerly colony for himself and forty +companions. In reply, the King said that the climate was not too cold, +but that Sir George Calvert was too soft, and had better return home. +But he had in the meantime transferred himself and his forty followers +to the milder climes of the south, and there established Maryland, +whose capital, Baltimore, was named after the founder's family title. +Perhaps the turbulence of his surroundings, and the troubles with the +French, were not to his taste. Law and order were indeed far to seek, +and there were neither civil tribunals nor military forces. We may +suppose that the "Fishing Admirals," authorized by the Star Chamber +and confirmed in their authority by 10 and 11 William III., c. 25, +had already asserted a _de facto_ jurisdiction on the spot, for it is +hardly credible that the mere wantonness of legislative invention can +have produced such a tribunal. To anticipate for a moment: the Act +provided that the master of the first ship arriving from England with +the season should be admiral of the harbour; to the masters of the +second and third in order were given the titles of vice-admiral and +rear-admiral. To this tribunal were committed fishing disputes in +general, and the maintenance of peace among sailors and fishermen. It +may be supposed that these rough sailors were both corrupt and +inefficient. "I must be a pretty sort of a judge if I could not do +justice to myself," said one west country sailor, when charged with +delivering an interested judgment. At the close of the season the +judges disappeared, together with their cargoes of blubber and cod. + +In spite of all these drawbacks the island was gradually increasing in +reputation. Writers, as well as returned "planters" and visitors, did +much to make it known. Thus Sir Richard Whitbourne, to whom reference +has already been made, wrote in his "Discourse of Newfoundland" +(1622): "Divers worshipful citizens of the City of Bristol have +undertaken to plant a large circuit of that country, and they have +maintained a Colony of his Majesties subjects there any time those +five years who have builded there faire houses, and done many other +good services, who live there very pleasantly, and they are well +pleased to entertaine upon fit conditions such as wilbe Adventurers +with them." And he quotes from a letter from Captain Wynne of August +17th, 1622: "At the Bristow Plantation there is as goodly rye now +growing as can be in any part of England; they are also well furnished +with swine, and a large breed of goates, fairer by farre than those +that were sent over at the first." + +In 1628 Robert Hayman, who accompanied the above-mentioned expedition +of 1610, published a book entitled "Quodlibels, lately come over from +New Britaniola, Old Newfound-Land," etc. Among the "epigrams" are a +number of verses, in which he pays a tribute to leading North American +colonizers, sets out the advantages offered by the new colony, and +makes many apt and wise observations regarding colonization. The +reader will no doubt welcome a few passages, which he may regard--to +use Livy's phrase--as "deverticula amoena" in this account of our +subject. + +_To the Worshippful Captaine John Mason, who did wisely and worthily +governe there divers yeeres._ + + The aire in Newfound-land is wholesome, good; + The fire, as sweet as any made of wood; + The waters, very rich, both salt and fresh; + The earth more rich, you know it is no lesse + Where all are good, fire, water, earth, and aire, + What man made of these foure would not live there? + +_To all those worthy women, who have any desire to live in +Newfound-land._ + + Sweet creatures, did you truely understand + The pleasant life you'd live in Newfound-land, + You would with teares desire to be brought thither: + I wish you, when you goe, faire wind, faire weather: + For if you with the passage can dispence [= bear] + When you are there, I know you'll ne'r come thence. + +_In praise of my Newfound-land._ + + Did some know what contentment I found there, + Alwayes enough, most times somewhat to spare. + With little paines, lesse toyle, and lesser care, + Exempt from tanings, ill newes, lawing, feare.... + +_To the first Planters of Newfound-land._ + + What ayme you at in your plantation? + Sought you the honour of our nation? + Or did you hope to raise your owne renowne? + Or else to adde a kingdome to a crowne? + Or Christ's true doctrine for to propagate? + Or drawe salvages to a blessed state? + Or our o're peopled kingdome to relieve? + Or shew poore men where they may richly live? + Or poore mens children godly to maintaine? + Or aym'd you at your owne sweete private gaine? + +_To some discreet people who thinke anybody good enough for a +plantation._ + + When you doe see an idle, lewd, young man, + You say hee's fit for our plantation. + Knowing your selfe to be riche, sober, wise + You set your owne worth at an higher price. + I say, such men as you are, were more fit, + And most convenient for first peopling it: + Such men as you would quickly profit here: + Lewd, lazy lubbers, want wit, grace, and care. + +_To the famous, wise and learned sisters, the two Universities of +England, Oxford and Cambridge._ + + Send forth your sons unto our new plantation; + Yet send such as are holy, wise, and able. + +The same writer submitted to Charles I. a remarkable "proposition of +profitt and honour," in which he unsuccessfully called for the King's +help and patronage in regard to the colonization of the island.[27] + +In 1637 the Commissioners of Foreign Plantations, who had been +appointed three years before, resolved that the old colonial grants +had lapsed, and transferred them to new patentees, prescribing, under +the new fishing rules made by the Star Chamber (1634), one system and +area of control for settlers, and another for fishermen, and +restricting their respective activities. The first Governor under this +régime was Sir David Kirke, who established himself at Ferryland +(1638) with a number of settlers variously estimated at from thirty to +one hundred persons. His charter was a liberal one, embracing the +whole island, and was the reward of his gallantry in the capture of +Quebec. He introduced the practice of levying rent, imposing licence +fees, and exacting an excise of 5 per 120 fish on alien fishermen. The +convulsions of the Civil War were felt even in Newfoundland, and Kirke +paid for his Royalism by the loss, under the Commonwealth, of his +noble possession (1651). + +What has been described as a period of repression in the history of +Newfoundland began with the reign of Charles I. and continued to the +end of the eighteenth century. As a recent writer observes: "In the +fairy story it is the youngest sister, but the eldest sister is the +Cinderella of colonial history. If Newfoundland had experienced only +the healthful neglect under which the other colonies prospered, she +too would have grown into vigorous life. But a strong and influential +class in England was interested in harassing the settlers, in +depreciating the resources of the island, and in throwing every +obstacle in the way of permanent settlement. This policy came in with +Charles I. and continued down to the very commencement of the +nineteenth century. Captain Mason, Sir William Vaughan, and Captain +Whitbourne had written favourably of the island; but from their day +down to 1842, when Sir Richard Bonnycastle wrote his book, every +writer described it as barren; in summer gloomy with perpetual fog, +and in winter given over to excessive cold and blinding snowstorms. +The west country people of England, generation after generation, drew +from the fisheries of Newfoundland enormous profits, upon which +prosperous mercantile establishments and noble families were built up +and sustained in England. They considered and called them 'their' +fisheries, and their interests required that there should be no +resident population to compete in their monopoly, to share the best +fishing rooms, and to grow up to be dangerous rivals in foreign +markets. The influence of this class upon the government was +incessantly exercised in framing regulations and laws to choke the +growth of the colony. + +"The confused annals of this period can only be understood by +remembering the existence of two antagonistic parties, the 'planters' +and inhabitants on the one hand, who, being settled there, needed the +protection of a government and police, with administration of justice; +and the 'adventurers' or merchants on the other, who, originally +carrying on the fishery from England, and visiting the island only for +the season, needed no such protection for themselves, and had various +reasons for preventing its being afforded to the others. + +"If the Mother Country had only forgotten the island it would have +prospered; but in 1633 the English merchants succeeded in procuring +from the Star Chamber rules and regulations drawn solely to advance +their own private interests, and these rules were supplemented always +in the same direction, by the same oppressive agency."[28] + +At this time the resident population of the island cannot have +exceeded a few hundreds, and every step was adopted which a vicious +political economy could suggest to keep the numbers down. It was made +penal for a settler to dwell within six miles of the shore, for a +planter to cut down wood or plant within six miles from the shore, for +any planter or inhabitant to take up the best positions in the +harbours before the arrival of the fishing-fleet in the spring; and +every master who sailed with a crew to Newfoundland was under +bond--lest here and there a permanent settler should filter +through--to return with his exact complement of hands. Their Lordships +of the Committee of Trade and Plantations were not superior to the +prejudices of the day, and they resolved in 1675, "That all +plantations in Newfoundland should be discouraged ... or that the +western charter should from time to time be put in execution; by which +charter all planters were forbid to inhabit within six miles of the +shore from Cape Race to Cape Bonavista." Equally considerate and +attentive were the efforts of the home country to cope with crime in +the island. The Star Chamber ingeniously provided that persons charged +with homicide, or with stealing to the value of 40s., should be +brought home and submitted to the judicial experience of the Mayors +of Southampton, Weymouth, and other specified towns. The +discrimination may also be admired which prohibited stealing _from the +fishing nets_. It must be supposed that time hung heavily on the hands +of the settlers in the intervals of the fishing, for we find at the +period much time and industry wasted on petitions to the Committee of +Trade, who possibly treated them as Grenville's predecessors are said +to have treated the American despatches. The Board of Trade, which +inherited the duties and the incompetence of the Committee, proved +more complaisant, and was indeed prepared to tolerate permanent +settlers to the number of one thousand. A struggle was imminent, if +only they had known it, when the presence of a few thousand resolute +settlers in Newfoundland would be of high moment to the interests of +England. + +The life of such as were allowed to remain must have been wild and +strange, alternating between the populous alacrity of the fishing +season and the hand to mouth struggle of the long winter months. +Perhaps the amenities of life were not missed because they can hardly +have been known; but the restrictions on building and the absence of +local authority must early have given rise to bitterness and +discontent. Certainly we must admire the constancy of men who were +content to live, a solitary cluster, on the coast, with an unexplored +interior and savage inhabitants behind them, and with no more secure +prospect of material progress than a process of undetected squatting +on the forbidden ground. + + * * * * * + +With regard to the plantations that have just been mentioned, +reference may be conveniently made here by way of parenthesis to the +survival in Newfoundland of certain terminology and customs, which +form an interesting connecting-link between the early enterprises and +modern usage and practice. In the words of a writer[29] fully +conversant with the present conditions of the island: "Because of its +early 'plantations,' the word 'planter' is still current in the +insular vocabulary, and the 'supplying system' still prevails, the +solitary links which connect with these bygone days. A 'planter' in +Newfoundland parlance is a fish trader on a moderate scale, the +middleman between the merchant, who ships the cod to market and the +toiler who hauls it from the water. 'Plantations' are yet interwoven +with local tradition, and show on ancient maps and charts. The tenure +of some has never been broken; the names and locations of others are +perpetuated in the existing fishing hamlets which dot the shore line. +Under the 'supplying system' the merchants and planters 'supply' the +fisherfolk each spring with all the essentials for their adequate +prosecution of the industry, and when the season ends, take over their +produce against the advances, made them six months before. The +'merchants' are the descendants of the early 'merchant adventurers' +who exploited the new-found Colony." + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[23] _Op. cit._, p. 42. + +[24] Stanford's "Compendium of Geography and Travel" (new issue): +North America: vol. i. Canada and Newfoundland. Edited by H.M. Ami +(London, 1915), p. 1009. + +[25] See Rogers, _op. cit._, pp. 59 _seq._ + +[26] _Ibid._, p. 59. + +[27] See article by G.C. Moore Smith, in "English Historical Review," +vol. xxxiii. (1918), pp. 31 _seq._ + +[28] Stanford's "Compendium," pp. 1010, 1011. + +[29] P.T. M'Grath, "Newfoundland in 1911" (London, 1911), p. 46. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE + + +In the reign of Charles I. a duty of five per cent. had been imposed +on the produce of all foreign vessels engaged in the Newfoundland +trade. Twenty-five years later the French under Du Mont, then +proceeding to Quebec with a contingent of soldiers and colonists, +established a settlement at Placentia, on the southern coast, +fortified it, and made it the seat of a resident Governor. They +continued, however, to pay the duty in recognition of English +sovereignty. Charles II. abolished the duty to oblige his French +patron, and with the abolition began the history of French aggression. +Very soon after their establishment the French settlers repudiated +England's sovereignty over the south parts of Newfoundland, and from +time to time strengthened their colony by bringing over bands of +French immigrants. It was clear to many that the extension of French +power in Canada and Newfoundland was a serious menace to the English +fisheries and settlements: leading statesmen, however, refused to +recognize the danger, and believed that if any really existed, the +system of convoys would obviate it. The convoy-captains, enlarging +the sphere of their regular activities, saved the colony, and during +their intermittent visits took upon themselves the functions of +governors, and effectually prevented the diffusion of anarchy. The +Governors of the French colony made their presence felt more than the +English settlers could tolerate; they interfered with them unduly, +engaged in privateering expeditions and land forays against them, +destroyed their property, and burned down their houses. Indeed, more +than one French Governor conceived the notion, with the sanction of +the King of France, of putting an end entirely to English colonization +in the island. "The encroachments of the French," said William III., +in his Declaration of War, "on His Majesty's subjects trading and +fishing there, had been more like the invasions of an enemy than +becoming friends, who enjoyed the advantages of that trade only by +permission." With the outbreak of war came in sharp succession the +attacks of Chevalier Vesmond, and of Burrill, beneath the latter of +which all the island but Bonavista and Carbonier succumbed. + +The Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 was signed before the French had been +dislodged. Under its terms the invaders surrendered their conquests +and retired to the territory in the south-west, of which they were in +occupation when the war began. The anomaly of their claims, passed +over in silence by the Treaty, was certain to be the source of +mischief. In the language of Mr Pedley, "Over a territory of some 200 +miles in extent, belonging to the British sovereignty, they had built +up imperceptibly an almost undisputed dominion." Five years after the +Peace of Ryswick war broke out again. An English squadron under +Admiral Sir John Leake destroyed a number of French fishing-vessels +between St. Pierre and Trepassey (1702), and in the following year +Admiral Graydon failed to reduce Placentia, owing to sickness, bad +weather, as well as want of resolution. In January 1705 the French in +retaliation surprised and captured St. John's. From this point they +overran the English settlements, Carbonier once again weathering the +storm, and abandoned themselves to depredation and devastation, as +they had done in the conflict a few years before. + +The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 found the French still in possession. +The provisions of this Treaty require careful consideration. Full +sovereignty over the whole of Newfoundland and the neighbouring +islands was declared to belong to England. Placentia was to be handed +over. Article XIII. of the Treaty contains the following provisions: + +"Nor shall the most Christian King, his heir and successors or any of +their subjects, at any time hereafter lay claim to any right to the +said island.... Moreover, it shall not be lawful for the subjects of +France to fortify any place in the said island of Newfoundland, or to +erect any buildings there, besides _stages made of boards, and huts +necessary and useful for drying of fish_, or to resort to the said +island beyond the time necessary for fishing and drying of fish. But +it shall be allowed to the subjects of France to catch fish and to dry +them on land in that part only which stretches ... from Cape Bonavista +to the northern part of the said island from thence by the western +side as far as Cape Riche." + +The fishing concession to France herein contained was wholly +inexcusable. The latter country was in no position to refuse terms, +and an absolute reservation of all fishing rights should have been +insisted on in the interests of the colony. A culpable Ministry, +short-sightedly regarding Newfoundland as little more than a +fishing-station, chose rather to make a graceful concession, and we +inherited the consequences in our Newfoundland Fisheries controversy +with France, which lasted for nearly two centuries. However, the half +century following the Treaty of Utrecht--an important turning-point in +the history of the colony--marks a period of progress; and after +another Anglo-French conflict, from which the English emerged +victorious, we find in the ensuing half century the establishment of a +definite policy of colonial permanence. + +The abuses connected with the admirals' jurisdiction had been +partially corrected by the authority, on appeal from them, of the +King's commanders stationed off the island. Still, the evils were very +real, and extorted recognition even from the gang of west country +monopolists who strangled for so long the growth of the island. We +find a recommendation offered by them to the Board of Trade with +astounding assurance, that the 3000 odd men, women, and children, who +by this time composed the population of Newfoundland, "should be +encouraged to settle in Nova Scotia--as they might be of service +there, where inhabitants were wanted." + +The colonists themselves had other and better remedies. A +spontaneously elected Assembly passed ordinances which attest the +sincerity of the general desire for reform. In 1728 the informing zeal +of Lord Vere Beauclerk elicited a decisive step from the Board of +Trade, and Captain Henry Osborne was appointed the first Governor of +Newfoundland (1729), with authority to appoint justices of the peace. +Even at such a moment the cloven hoof of prejudice peeped through, and +Osborne and his justices were explicitly warned to interfere in no way +with the privileges of the admirals, as defined by 10 and 11 William +III. Governor Osborne addressed himself to his duties with great +energy. He appointed justices and constables, carved the island into +districts, and erected prisons and stocks. His influence was weakened +by his departure when the season ended, for till the nineteenth +century the governors, like the fish, were migratory. A tedious +quarrel followed between the justices and the admirals as to the +limits of their respective jurisdictions; the admirals, whose wits +seem to have been sharpened by judicial practice, insisting that their +own authority was derived from statute, whereas that of the justices +merely rested upon an Order in Council. + +In 1749 the great sailor Rodney, then a commander in the Navy, was +appointed Governor. He distinguished himself by a humane consideration +for the interests of the fishing servants. His answer to a petition +from the merchants for permission to lower the contract rate of wages, +in view of the badness of the season, has often been quoted, and is +pleasant to read: + +"Mr Drake and myself would be glad to ease the merchants in all that +lay in our power, but we are by no means capable of acting as desired, +to serve any people whatever. I have only one question to ask, namely: +'Had the season been good in proportion as it has proved bad, would +the merchants or boat-keepers have raised the men's wages?'" + +In 1750 came another advance. Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer were +appointed for the island; that is to say, persons authorized to "hear +and determine" on capital felonies committed in Newfoundland. This +change ended the costly farce by which such persons were sent to +England for trial. Seven years of development followed, to be broken +by the long struggle between England and France, which the splendid +genius of Pitt inspired and directed. He not only "conquered America +in Europe" by the prodigal carelessness with which he poured subsidies +into the treasury of Prussia, but he conceived and delivered in +America itself a death-blow to French ambition. In 1758 Amherst and +Wolfe, with a fleet of 150 vessels, were sent to attack Cape Breton, +and after assaulting Louisbourg, the capital, received the submission +of the island. In 1759 came General Wolfe's night assault on Quebec, +and the unforgettable battle in which he lost his life. The only +French success was gained at the expense of Newfoundland, for St. +John's surrendered to an adventurous French expedition under Count +d'Haussonville in June 1762. Admiral Lord Graves, the Governor, who +was on his voyage from England, received the news in time to prevent +him from landing. He vigorously concerted a plan of attack with +Admiral Lord Colville, who was in command at Halifax, and after a +lively investment the French garrison, numbering 700 or 800 strong +surrendered on terms (September 20th, 1762), but the French Navy +managed to escape, thanks to a fog. + +The Treaty of Paris in 1763 brought the war to an end. Its course had +afforded one more opportunity of simplifying the condition of the +fishing industry. The English Ministry, under the nerveless guidance +of Lord Bute, omitted to seize it, and the Newfoundland clauses of the +Treaty of Utrecht (which had granted to the French fishery and drying +rights on the coasts between Cape Bonavista and Point Rich) were +confirmed, notwithstanding the fact that the English settlers had +extended their occupation as far north as Twillingate, and French +fishermen had not for three decades previously been further south than +Fleur-de-Lys and White Bay. One clear, protesting voice was heard. "I +contended several times in vain," said Pitt, "for the whole exclusive +fishery, but I was overruled--I repeat, I was overruled, not by the +foreign enemy, but by another enemy." + +The House of Commons, under George III., was a corrupt and discredited +body; and the Treaty of Paris was affirmed by 319 votes to 65. It had +fallen to the lot of Governor Palliser--a fine reactionary in the view +he took of his charge--to frame local orders for carrying out the +provisions of the Treaty of Paris. His orders were clear and +unambiguous. The French right of fishing within the permitted area was +declared to be concurrent. The English jurisdiction was affirmed +except in disputes between French subjects. + +Between the capture of French America and the revolt of the older +English colonies a few years of peace intervened. Cook, the great +discoverer, who had served under Lord Graves in Newfoundland in 1762, +spent the four years from 1763 to 1767 in an invaluable survey of the +island, wherein he showed for the first time its correct shape, and +glancing inland foretold for it a great mining future. The annexation +of Labrador, affected by the proclamation of October 7th, 1763, added +to the area and importance of the colony. + +It would be unreasonable to look for religious enlightenment in the +early history of Newfoundland. "Coelum non animum mutant qui trans +mare currunt": there was little tolerance in the England of the +eighteenth century, and even the New England settlers had shamed their +faith by outrages on the Quakers. In Newfoundland religious feeling +ran high, as it has so often done when Roman Catholics and Protestants +live side by side. The Roman Catholic element in Newfoundland, though +a minority, was considerable in numbers: for the sorrows of Ireland +had brought many of her children from one sorely tried island to +another. The Protestant majority, forgetting the tradition of Lord +Baltimore, abused their supremacy. Heavy fines were inflicted on +priests for holding services, and the scenes of their ministrations +were burned to the ground. Mr Pedley quotes a letter, written by +Governor Dorrell, to a bench of magistrates in 1762: + +"Whereas I am informed that a Roman Catholic priest is at this time +in Harbour Grace, and that he publicly read Mass, which is contrary to +law, and against the peace of our Sovereign Lord the King; you are +hereby required and directed, on the receipt of this, to cause the +said priest to be taken into custody, and sent round to this place. In +this you are not to fail." + +Mr Pedley quotes a letter from Governor Bonfoy to certain justices, +which grimly illustrates the prevalence of crime in the eighteenth +century: + +"Whereas I think, for the good of this island in general, that gallows +should be erected in the several districts, in order to deter from +their robberies a parcel of villains, who think that they can do what +they please with impunity.... You are, therefore, hereby required and +directed to cause gallows to be erected in the most public places in +your several districts, and cause all such persons as are guilty of +robbery, felony, or the like crimes, to be sent round to this place in +order to take their trial at the annual assizes held here, as I am +determined to proceed against all such with the utmost severity of the +law. Given under my hand at St. John's, the 12th of October, 1754." + +Newfoundland was naturally affected by the rebellion of the American +colonies. Of these Montcalm, in 1758, had written with rare insight: +"The several advices I daily receive assure me England will one day +lose her colonies. As to the English colonies, one essential point +should be known: it is, that they are never taxed. The Mother Country +should have taxed them from the foundation; I have certain advice that +all the colonies would take fire at being taxed now."[30] The +expulsion of the French from America had already lessened the +dependence of the colonies upon the home country, when the House of +Commons directed its corrupt and blighting attention to the English +colonial system. The Stamp Act was passed in 1764, and repealed in +1766. In 1768 came Charles Townshend's mischievous duty on tea; and +the American Congress met at Lexington in 1774. At this time the +resident population of Newfoundland amounted to over 12,000[31] and it +was soon realized that the colony would be gravely affected by the +outbreak of war. Congress at once prohibited all trade with the +English colonies. The seriousness of this blow was extreme, for +Newfoundland was largely dependent upon the American trade for the +necessaries of life. Want and tempest worked together for ill, and the +year 1775 is one of the blackest in the history of the colony. The +treaty with France in 1778 brought to the American colonists a success +which their resources and, it must be added, their resolution could +hardly have won alone, and once more exposed Newfoundland to European +attacks. It was protected by the energy and resource of Governor +Montague. + +In 1775 came the very important Act known as Palliser's Act. This +statute was based on the old selfish and restrictive view that +Newfoundland should be a training ground for the Navy, and a place of +trade, not a permanent settlement. Bounties were given to the fishing +industry, and stringent measures were provided to ensure that masters +trading to the island should return with undiminished crews. The +privilege of drying fish was to be enjoyed only by such of the King's +subjects as sailed to Newfoundland from Great Britain, or from one of +the British dominions in Europe. + +An interesting light upon the economic condition of the colony is +thrown by the following figures: + +Estimate of the sums necessary to pay the salaries of the Governor and +Civil Officers in the Island of Newfoundland from April 1st, 1787, to +April 1st, 1788: + + £ s. d. +Salary of the Governor 500 0 0 +The Governor's Secretary 182 10 0 +The Judge of the Admiralty 200 0 0 +The Naval Officer 100 0 0 +The Agent 100 0 0 +On Account, for Fees on Receipt and Audit 100 0 0 + + £1,182 10 0 + +It will be of interest to give here a few figures as to the growth of +the English population in order to show that colonial developments +were proceeding in the right direction. "Residents grew apace, as the +increase of women and children from 612 in 1710 to 1,356 in 1738, and +to 2,508 in 1754 attested. Heads of families accounted for a third +more, so that in round numbers permanent residents were 800 in 1710, +1,800 in 1738, and 3,400 in 1754. The ship's crews of English ships, +for whose sake the older theorists taught that the fisheries primarily +existed, numbered 3,600 in 1738 and 4,500 in 1754, so that they +outnumbered residents, in the strictest sense of the word residents. +But if residents included all those who wintered on the island, they +outnumbered ship's crews during this half-century. On the other hand, +if passengers were added to ships' crews, the visitors outnumbered the +settlers, except when there were war scares....[32] Between 1764 and +1774 residents for the first time continuously outnumbered visitors. +During these years the winter residents, including male hangers-on as +well as settlers, averaged 12,340; and visitors, including +'passengers' as well as ships' crews, averaged 11,876; or excluding +male hangers-on from the one side and passengers from the other side, +residents averaged 5,660 and visitors 5,435. Figures no longer yielded +an uncertain sound. The Rubicon was only just crossed, but was +indisputably and irrevocably crossed. Thenceforth the living-rooms +were larger than the corridors, and political arithmetic pointed at +the permanent occupants as the men of destiny. In 1764 the new tilt of +the balance struck the law officers of the Crown, who wrote that it +was 'disgraceful to suffer' the Act of 1699 'to remain in the Statute +Book' as circumstances had so much changed. This disproportion +increased; and the 12,000 inhabitants of 1764-74 swelled to 17,000 in +1792, 20,000 in 1804, and 52,000 in 1822, without any corresponding +increase on the part of those who appeared every spring and faded away +every autumn, like leaves or flowers."[33] + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[30] Quoted in Egerton's "History of British Colonial Policy." + +[31] But see the end of the present chapter in regard to the character +and fluctuations of the population. + +[32] For example, in 1745, 1746, 1757. + +[33] Rogers, _op. cit._, pp. 122-123, 137-138. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE ENGLISH COLONIAL SYSTEM AND ITS RESULTS + + +The War of American Independence forms a convenient point at which to +examine for a moment in passing the English colonial system, of which +Newfoundland was in some sense a victim. It may then at once be stated +that in the English view, as in the Spanish view, a "plantation" was +expected, directly or indirectly, to contribute to the wealth of the +Mother Country. If it contributed much, it was a good colony; if +little, its consequence was less. Hence the English legislation +throttling colonial manufacturers in the supposed interests of English +merchants, and confining colonial trade to English channels. Hence the +disregard, persistent and unashamed, of Adam Smith's immortal saying: +"To prohibit a great people from making all that they can of every +part of their own produce, or from employing their stock and industry +in the way that they judge most advantageous to themselves, is a +manifest violation of the most sacred rights of mankind." Long before +Smith, the wisest of Englishmen had sounded a clear note of warning +far in advance of his age. Bacon wrote in his essay on plantations: +"Let there be freedom from custom, till the plantation be of strength: +and not only freedom from custom, but freedom to carry their +commodities where they make their best of them, except there be some +special cause of caution." + +Any stick has been thought good enough to beat those who lost America, +but we must not suppress the little that may be urged on their behalf. +Here again may be cited the dispassionate opinion of Adam Smith: +"Though the policy of Great Britain with regard to the trade of her +colonies has been dictated by the same mercantile spirit as that of +other nations, it has, upon the whole, been less illiberal and +oppressive than that of any of them." To the same effect Mr Lecky: "It +is a gross ... misrepresentation to describe the commercial policy of +England as exceptionally tyrannical." In fact, the expense of +protecting Newfoundland and America against French attacks was serious +and constant. That the colonies owed contribution to that defence is +clear, for it would be involved in any other view that an American +enjoyed a natural right to be protected against France at the charges +of a Londoner. In the face of all this the colonies were conspicuously +and notoriously unable to agree upon any principle of allocating +grants. In this respect Newfoundland was no better than the American +colonies. "We should be extremely concerned," wrote a merchant +officially consulted on the point, "to see any species of taxes +introduced into this island which would inevitably be burdensome and +inconvenient to the trade and fishing in general, and we trust that in +the wisdom of His Majesty's Ministers no such innovation will take +place." + +The attempt, then, to tax from home was defensible, and Chatham was +clearly wrong in denying its legality. On the other hand, to persevere +in the attempt was the folly of weakness, mistaking obstinacy for +strength. + +It must be remembered, as a partial extenuation of English selfishness +in Newfoundland, that the long arm of England was ever extended for +the colony's protection, and that the charges therefor were defrayed +by the English taxpayer. Hence the view followed, naturally but +unfortunately, that the island was an asset to be exploited +commercially in the interests of the home country. + +In 1783 the Treaty of Versailles revised the French rights conferred +by the Treaty of Utrecht. The French boundary was contracted from Cape +Bonavista to Cape St. John on the east coast, and was extended from +Point Riche to Cape Ray on the west. The whole subject of the French +claims will be examined in a separate chapter,[34] but a very +important undertaking set forth in the Treaty of Versailles must not +be omitted: + +"His Britannic Majesty ... that the fishermen of the two nations may +not give cause for daily quarrels, was pleased to engage that he would +take the most positive measures for preventing his subjects from +interrupting in any measure by their competition, the fishing of the +French during the temporary exercise thereof which is granted to them +upon the coasts of the island of Newfoundland, and that he would for +that purpose cause the permanent settlements which should be formed +there to be removed, and that he would give orders that the French +fishermen should not be incommoded in the cutting of wood, necessary +for the repair of their scaffolds, huts, and fishing boats." + +In the time of Governor Milbanke, in 1791, an Act of Parliament +tardily created "the Court of Civil Jurisdiction of our Lord the King +at St. John's in the island of Newfoundland," which Court was +empowered to try all civil cases except those relating to land, and +which usually began actions by the peremptory procedure of arresting +the defendant and attaching his goods. The following year a supreme +Court of Civil and Criminal Judicature was instituted which superseded +the Court erected the previous year, put an end to the authority of +the "fishing-admirals," of the Courts held in summer by surrogates +(naval commanders visiting the island) and of the Courts of Session +held in winter by local justices of the peace, and was empowered to +try all persons charged with criminal offences and determine civil +suits, including those relating to land, and to make arrest and +attachment in civil suits discretionary and alternative. The +jurisdiction of the Court was renewed annually, then triennially; and +John Reeves, to whose history all writers on Newfoundland owe so much, +was appointed the first Chief Justice; but he remained in the island +only till 1792, when he was succeeded by ex-surgeons, collectors of +customs, and merchants. In 1809 a perpetual Act was passed, which +purported to abolish definitely the diverse and sporadic +jurisdictions; but such is the force of old customs and practices that +it was not till 1824 that the old Session Courts, Courts of Surrogates +and of fishing-admirals were finally extinguished, and at the same +time two assistant judges were appointed to aid the Chief Justice, and +all three judges were to be English or Irish barristers. A Court of +Civil Jurisdiction was also created for Labrador. We may recall here +the observations of Chief Justice Reeves on the fishing-admirals: +"They are ever the servants of the merchants. Justice was not to be +expected from them; and a poor planter or inhabitant, who was +considered little better than a law-breaker in being such, had but a +small chance of justice in opposition to any great west-country +merchant. They considered that Newfoundland was theirs, and that all +the planters were to be spoiled and devoured at their pleasure." It +must be recorded that this most just and necessary reform in judicial +administration was vainly but bitterly opposed by the merchants at +home. + +In 1793 came the war with revolutionary France, and Newfoundland was +once again in a bustle of defensive preparation. The Governor, +Vice-Admiral King, took possession of St. Pierre. The French, under +Admiral Richery, threatened St. John's, but desisted in face of the +vigour of the new Governor, Admiral Sir Richard Wallace (1796), who +raised volunteers, strengthened the forts, and prepared new batteries. +In 1797 the mutiny at the Nore broke out, provoked by real grievances. +As far off as Newfoundland the spirit of disaffection spread, and an +outbreak occurred on H.M.S. _Latona_, then lying in the harbour of St. +John's. It was quelled by the resolution of Captain Sothern; and +Governor Waldegrave (1797-1800), afterwards Lord Radstock, summoned +the mutineers before him and addressed them in the presence of the +Royal Newfoundland Regiment, whom they had tried to affect with +sedition. "I may venture to say," the Governor writes home, "my speech +was of much service." It was certainly of much vigour. "If I am to +judge from your conduct," he said, "I must think that the majority of +you are either villains or cowards. If the greater number of you are +against your officers, ... I have a right to say that you are +traitors.... If there are only a few bad men among you, which you +pretend to be the case, I maintain that you are a set of dastardly +cowards, for suffering yourselves to be bullied by a few villains, who +wish for nothing better than to see us become the slaves of France.... +You were all eager for news and newspapers to see how your great +delegate, Parker"--the ringleader at the Nore--"was going on. I thank +God I have the satisfaction to inform you that he is hanged.... You +looked up to him as an example whilst he was in his glory. I recommend +you to look to his end as an example also.... I have now to tell you +that I have given orders to all your officers, that in case any +further signs of mutiny should appear among you, they are not to think +of confining the ringleaders, but to put them to death instantly; and, +what is still more, I have given orders to the officers commanding the +batteries, to burn the _Latona_ with red-hot shot, in case you drive +me ... to that extremity. I know in this case the officers must perish +with you; but there is not one of them but is ready to sacrifice +himself for the good of his country.... And now go to church, and pray +God to inspire you with such sentiments as may acquire you the respect +and love of your countrymen in this world and eternal happiness in the +next." + +This speech, which was rescued from oblivion by the industry of Mr +Pedley, came clearly from a man of energy and resolution. In fact, +Governor Waldegrave proved himself to possess unusual resource and +vigour. He was the creator of the Newfoundland system of poor relief, +and he busied himself actively in the interests of religion. On the +latter subject it is pleasant to note a spirit of growing breadth in +the island. In particular, the loyal labours of the Roman Catholic +Bishop O'Donnell opened up a new era of tolerance for his followers. +To this Bishop was due the discovery, in 1802, of a plot among the +locally enlisted Royal Newfoundland Regiment, to loot St. John's and +then fly to the United States. The ringleaders were executed, and the +mutinous regiment was replaced by one from Halifax. + +The war with France was for the time being terminated by the Peace of +Amiens (1802), whereby the conquered territory was to be restored--so +that St. Pierre and Miguelon were returned to France; and her fishing +rights were renewed on the same basis as was laid down in the Treaty +of Utrecht. + +In 1802, by which time the population of the island amounted to about +twenty thousand persons, Governor Gambier (1802-1803), who was in +advance of his age in his views on government, as well as on the +education of the settlers, and the civilization of the Beothics, +proposed to Lord Hobart the establishment of a legislative power in +Newfoundland, similar to that which has been found necessary to the +prosperity and good government of other parts of the British +dominions. The suggestion was treated as premature, and probably was +so in fact. That it should have been made at all shows how far we have +travelled from the swaddling clothes of monopoly. However this may be, +two important civilizing agencies were introduced in 1805 and 1806--a +regular post office, and a newspaper (the _Royal Gazette_). + +In 1810 began Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Duckworth's period of office, +which soon revealed a Governor of energy and intelligence. He +journeyed to the northern settlements and Labrador to learn the +condition and needs of the population; he tried to secure friendly +relations with the Red Indians of the country, and set up a hospital +in St. John's. Amongst other reforms he procured the passing of a +statute in 1811 (51 George III.) authorizing him to grant leases of +certain ships' rooms at St. John's then in public occupation. +Following up in this way the useful work of Governor Gower +(1804-1807), he used his leasing power to promote the building of +warehouses and wharves. The idea that the inhabitants of St. John's +had a right to make it habitable was slowly gaining ground. Duckworth +was an able and far-seeing man, and his report on the condition of the +island, furnished to the home authorities at the end of his +governorship, was a lucid and memorable document. His condemnation of +the building restrictions paved the way for the fearless agitation of +Dr. William Carson. A distinguished medical graduate of Edinburgh, +Carson incurred the dislike of Governor Duckworth, and his successor, +Governor Keats, by his outspoken pamphlets. Indeed, there was nothing +equivocal in Carson's views: + +"The only remedy against the evils flowing from the present system +will be found in giving to the people, what they most ardently wish, a +civil Government, consisting of a resident Governor, a Senate House, +and House of Assembly." + +Hitherto the population had possessed no voice in the administration +of their own affairs. The Governors exercised an absolute power, which +to progressive minds appeared to be an indifferent and unnecessary +despotism. So far as Newfoundland affairs were concerned they almost +invariably adopted an ultra-conservative attitude, and were hostile to +proposals for amelioration called for in the changing circumstances of +the colony. Thus the demand for self-government became more and more +general. + +The Anglo-American War which began in 1812 ushered in a period of +great prosperity to Newfoundland. Fish were plentiful, prices good +beyond precedent, and wages high in proportion. + +The Great European War was terminated by the Battle of Waterloo on +1815, and peace was restored by the Treaty of Paris. Under the latter +the French regained the right of fishing on the banks and shores of +Newfoundland. The privileges of Americans to fish in British waters +were also enlarged. In favour of their own fishermen, both the French +and American governments then established a system of bounties, and by +imposing high duties prevented the importation of Newfoundland fish +into their own markets. Thus the Newfoundland fishermen were obliged +to compete with their rivals on very unequal terms. + +Governor Pickmore, who succeeded Governor Keats in 1816, was +confronted with a very difficult state of things. The high prices +which had ruled from 1812 to 1815 had attracted emigrants in large and +undesirable numbers. The commercial reaction and foreign competition, +aided by the bounties, hit the merchants hard, and in 1815 bankruptcy +trod fast on the heels of bankruptcy. In the following winter actual +starvation menaced the residents, and many owed their lives to the +generosity and energy of Captain David Buchan, commander of H.M.S. +_Pike_, who put his men on short rations for the relief of the +inhabitants. In an address of thanks, which was presented to him when +the crisis was past, his services were gratefully recorded: + +"At this distressing crisis you afforded us from His Majesty's store a +supply in aid of our then alarming and terrible wants. You then, with +patriotic feeling, placed the company of the ship which you command +on reduced allowance, and yielded to the public distress every +alleviation which such means afforded." + +The lean years were still further saddened by the terrible fire of +1817, which left more than a thousand persons houseless, in the full +severity of winter. The wooden houses and narrow streets of St. John's +made resistance hopeless, when the flames had once gained a hold. It +was estimated that the fire caused a loss of £125,000. The wealthier +inhabitants and the home Government gave what relief was possible, and +in 1818 the crisis yielded before brighter prospects. + +Pickmore was the first Governor to reside continuously in the island +(where he also died), for his predecessors had sailed away with the +fishermen in October to reappear with the beginning of summer. In 1817 +a Select Committee of the House of Commons was specially appointed to +consider the situation of Newfoundland. The merchants, full as ever of +vicious political economy, had two remedies to propose for the +admitted distresses. One was the concession of bounties to place them +on a level with French and American competition; the other was the +removal of the population (then numbering 17,000) to Nova Scotia or +Canada. Determined to omit nothing which might make them the derision +of history, they added an emphatic opinion that agriculture could +never thrive on the island. + +On the appointment of Governor Pickmore, Lord Bathurst had given him +the following instructions: + +"As the colony has of late years, from the rapid increase of the +population, assumed a character totally different from that under +which it had been usual previously to consider it, I am most desirious +of receiving from you your opinion as to the propriety of introducing +any and what change into the system of government which has heretofore +prevailed." + +The seeds sown by Carson were beginning to bear fruit, and from 1821 +onwards the desire for local government in the island grew +continuously stronger. As against the arguments of the opposition, it +was urged that all the British colonies, even the small Bermuda, had a +local government; that Nova Scotia was granted it as far back as the +middle of the eighteenth century; that the older American colonies had +always enjoyed self-government; and that the time had now come for the +extension of the same privilege to Newfoundland. The authority of +Governor Cochrane, who was appointed in 1825, and whose term of office +lasted till 1834, was limited by the appointment of a Council, +consisting of the Chief Justice, the two assistant Judges, and the +Military Commander at St. John's. Under this Governor roads were for +the first time laid out in the island. The irritation of the merchants +at home was intense, and the name of Peter Ougier, a west country +merchant, ought to go down to posterity. In his evidence before the +committee, he protested with real emotion: "They are making roads in +Newfoundland: next thing they will be having carriages and driving +about." Sir Thomas Cochrane was regarded as the best Governor ever +sent to Newfoundland. He was "the first real administrator and ruler +of the colony. An eminently practical man, he not only organized +improvements, he personally superintended their execution. His +activity was unbounded; in the early mornings he was out on horseback +inspecting the roads, directing his workmen, laying out the grounds at +Virginia, having interviews with the farmers, giving them practical +hints about agriculture; everywhere he impressed his strong +personality on colonial affairs. He was very sociable, and his +hospitality was unstinted." Indeed, the historian of the island can +point to only one mistake committed by the Governor, the bad taste +shown in the erection of Government House, which "looks more like a +prison than the Vice-regal residence ... it is a huge pile of +unredeemed ugliness."[35] + +In England, in the early thirties, reform was in the air. The blow was +struck at the right time, and in 1832--the year of the great Reform +Bill--Parliament passed a measure creating in Newfoundland a +representative assembly. The island was divided into nine electoral +divisions, each of which was to have one or more representatives, +according to population. There were, in fact, fifteen members. The +first election passed off quietly in the autumn of the same year. Dr. +Carson, the father of Home Rule, stood for St. John's, and Mr Justice +Prowse has usefully noted that he was defeated. The fickleness and +ingratitude of the people were never more dramatically illustrated. +"He had been the pioneer of the new movement, had suffered in the +people's cause, and yet the public, 'that many-headed monster +thing--the mob,' were the first to cast aside their leader in the +fight for Home Rule, and to give their votes and support to a new and +untried man." It was said, however, that the defeat was due to an +electioneering trick, whereby a false report was spread as to the +attitude of the veteran in the liberal cause.[36] "The House of +Assembly of 1833 was the youngest constituent body in America, but it +was not one whit behind any of them in stately parliamentary pageant +and grandiloquent language. H.B. (Doyle) in London caricatured it as +the 'Bow-wow Parliament' with a big Newfoundland dog in wig and bands +as Speaker putting the motion: 'As many as are of that opinion +say--bow; of the contrary--wow; the bows have it.'"[37] + +A nominated Legislative Council had been provided by the Constitution +of the Colony. The relations of the Chambers have always been delicate +in the British colonies, and in Newfoundland friction soon arose. The +Legislative Council, under Chief Justice Boulton--who improperly +called himself the Speaker instead of the President--set itself to +thwart and discredit the popular Chamber. On both sides the +controversies were petty, and were conducted in a petty spirit. The +popular assembly described itself as "the Commons House of Assembly in +Parliament assembled"; whereupon it was ordered forthwith to strike +out the word "Parliament." The Legislative Council appears to have +been the more cantankerous, and the less prone to compromise. At last +matters reached an _impasse_, for the Council began to throw out +Supply and Revenue Bills. In the first year of the Queen's reign, when +Canada was already full of trouble, delegates from the Newfoundland +House of Assembly arrived in London. Their mission was in the main +successful. The Council was recommended to adopt the Appropriation +Bill, and Chief Justice Boulton was summarily dismissed. "Boulton," +says Mr Justice Prowse, "had undoubted ability, but he was the worst +possible selection for both the Council and the Bench. His views, both +of law and legislation, were most illiberal; as a technical lawyer he +was mostly right and sublimely independent, but his harsh sentences, +his indecent party spirit, and his personal manners caused him to be +hated as no one else was ever hated in this colony."[38] + +In 1838 occurred the Kielly affair, which has added a leading case to +English constitutional law. Dr. Kielly assaulted, or was said to have +assaulted, Mr John Kent, who was a member of the Assembly. Mr Kent +brought the matter before the Assembly as a breach of privilege. The +House refused to hear witnesses on Kielly's behalf, treated the charge +as proved, and demanded that he should apologize at the bar of the +House. Kielly refused, adding that Kent was a liar and a coward. Then +followed an interlude of comic opera. Kielly was committed, whereupon +Mr Justice Lilly granted a writ of _habeas corpus_. This was not to be +borne by the imperious Assembly, and the Speaker promptly issued his +warrant for the re-arrest of Kielly, the arrest of the High Sheriff, +and of Judge Lilly. Nothing like it had been seen since the heyday of +the Wilkes litigation in England, when the House of Commons committed +the Sheriff of Middlesex to prison for carrying out the orders of the +Court of King's Bench. + +In the unruffled atmosphere of the Privy Council the legal question +found its decision.[39] It was laid down that the Crown, by its +prerogative, can create a Legislative Assembly in a settled colony, +with the government of its inhabitants: but that it is highly doubtful +whether the Crown could, if it wished, bestow upon such an Assembly an +authority, such as that of committing for contempt, not incidental to +it by law. "The House of Assembly of Newfoundland," said Chief Baron +Parke, "have not, what they erroneously supposed themselves to +possess, the same exclusive privileges which the ancient law of +England has annexed to the Houses of Parliament." + +In 1838 the members of the Assembly were elected for four years, and +this term has continued ever since. + +The colony was destined to pass now through bitter trials. Having +secured freedom, after much suffering and oppression, it soon learnt +that freedom without common sense and moderation degenerates into +licence, and becomes a menace and a terror. The election of +representatives was accompanied by scenes of turbulence and disorder: +the sense of toleration and compromise was absent. Half of the +population were Roman Catholics of Irish descent, in whom rankled +memories of ancient wrongs; the other half were Protestants of English +descent, long used to ascendency, who were headed by a wealthy +commercial class. With the introduction of the new régime old +distrusts and hostilities were rekindled, and an unscrupulous press +fanned the flames. Religion became mixed up with the political +contention; and the evil passions that were aroused, and the outrages +that were committed held back for some time the progress of the +community and the political development of the colony. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[34] See _infra_, chap. x. + +[35] D.W. Prowse, "History of Newfoundland," second edition (London, +1896), pp. 424, 425, 426. + +[36] Prowse, _op. cit._, pp. 429, 430. + +[37] _Ibid._, p. 431. + +[38] Prowse, _op. cit._, p. 434. + +[39] Kielly _v._ Carson (1842), Moore's Privy Council Cases, vol. iv., +pp. 63, 88. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SELF-GOVERNMENT + + +The political faculty in Newfoundland was so rudimentary at this +period that from 1841 to 1843 it became necessary to suspend the +Constitution. In the autumn of 1840 an election riot at Carbonear +occurred, which was of such a serious character that the sympathies of +the British ministry with Newfoundland affairs were alienated, and the +Governor was ordered to dissolve the Legislature. He did this on April +26th, 1841, and in his speech pointed out the reason for such drastic +action: "As a Committee of the House of Commons has been appointed to +enquire into the state of Newfoundland, before which Committee I shall +have to appear, I will on the present occasion confine myself to the +expression of my regret that such a proceeding should have become +indispensably necessary to the tranquillity and welfare of the +colony." Until 1849 the government was carried on by a General +Assembly--a makeshift Assembly--in which members of the House of +Assembly sat side by side with members of the Council, the latter +losing their distinctive functions. + +Under Governor Prescott (1834) and Governor Harvey (1841) began +organized attempts to foster the agricultural interest. Liberal grants +of land were made to poor settlers, and considerable sums voted for +the construction of roads. This was indeed a period of healthy +activity, for the development of the seal fishery added in a variety +of ways to the prosperity of the island, and the invention of steam, +together with the establishment of a regular mail service, brought +Newfoundland very much nearer to the home country. + +On June 9th, 1846, came the last great fire but one which has ravaged +the colony. By great misfortune it broke out when a high wind was +blowing, and spread with fatal rapidity all over the town. Buildings, +public and private, wooden and stone, were involved in a common +destruction, and the last touch of horror came when the large oil vats +fringing the harbour caught fire. The Custom House, the Church of St. +John's, the Courts and Gaol, the Theatre, the Bank of British North +America, the Colonial Treasurer's Office, and the Savings Bank, were +all destroyed. It was estimated that the aggregate amount of damage +done was £1,000,000, and that upwards of 12,000 persons lost their +homes. In this crushing affliction the spirit shown by all classes, +from Governor Harvey downwards, was admirable. At a representative +meeting of the citizens convened by the Governor it was resolved: + +"That this meeting is aware that the well-established credit and +stability of the trade of St. John's, coupled with the natural and +inexhaustible resources of its fisheries, will speedily enable it to +recover its usual current, but that in the meantime it is necessary +that publicity should be given to the demand for provisions and +building materials which at present exists in this market." + +Help from Canada was quickly forthcoming and a grant of £30,000 from +the home country combined with private efforts to meet the most +pressing needs of the moment. The building of wider streets, the +proscription of wooden houses, and the provision of an ampler water +supply, showed that the lessons of the past had not been thrown away. + +That year, 1846, was to be an _annus mirabilis_, for a storm, fiercer +than the wildest within living memory, wrought havoc among the +shipping in St. John's Harbour, and overwhelmed many substantial +buildings inland. It seemed as if the malice of destiny had sent the +gale to destroy the little that had escaped the fire; for Natives' +Hall, which was being used to shelter the houseless, was blown to the +ground. + +About this time--thanks to the currents of excitement spread +everywhere by the European revolutionary movements of 1848--began a +fresh agitation for responsible government, which had already been +granted to the other North American colonies, and which involved a +larger measure of self-government than had been conceded in the +constitution of 1832. The inhabitants became more and more anxious +that appointments within the colony should depend upon popular +approval--or, rather, on the choice of the party commanding a majority +in the Legislature--and not upon the Crown's nomination. The official +view at home on this demand was stated both by the Whig, Earl Grey, +and the Conservative, Sir John Pakington. The former wrote: + +"Until the wealth and population of the colony shall have increased +considerably beyond their present amount, the introduction of what is +called responsible government will by no means prove to its +advantage.... The institutions of Newfoundland have been of late in +various ways modified and altered, and some time must unavoidably +elapse before they can acquire that amount of fixity and adaptation to +the colonial wants of society which seems an indispensable preliminary +to the future extension of popular government." + +Similarly, Sir John Pakington, in a despatch of April 3rd, 1852, +observed: + +"Her Majesty's Government see no reason for differing from the +conclusions at which their predecessors had arrived in the question of +the establishment of responsible government, and which were conveyed +to you by Lord Grey in the despatch already mentioned. I consider, on +the contrary, that the wisdom and justice of these conclusions are +confirmed by the accounts since received from Newfoundland." + +The change came in 1855, a year after the Secretary of State for the +Colonies had informed the Governor that "Her Majesty's Government has +come to the conclusion that they ought not to withhold from +Newfoundland those institutions and that civil administration which, +under the popular name of responsible government, have been adopted in +all Her Majesty's neighbouring possessions in North America, and they +are prepared to concede the immediate application of the system as +soon as certain preliminary conditions have been acceded to on the +part of the Legislature." At the same time the numbers of members in +the Representative Assembly was, at the instance of the Imperial +Government, increased to thirty. + +It was not long before the Empire had an instructive lesson in the +influence with which responsible government arms a colony. A natural +_rapprochement_ between France and England followed the Crimean War, +and a Convention was drafted dealing with the Newfoundland fisheries. +Against the proposed adjustment, involving a surrender by Great +Britain of Newfoundland fishing rights, local feeling was strong and +unanimous. Petition followed petition, and delegation delegation. "The +excitement in the colony over the Convention of 1857 was most intense +and widespread; the British flag was hoisted half-mast; other excited +citizens flew American flags; everywhere there was burning indignation +over this proposal to sell our birthright for a mess of pottage.[40] +The resolute attitude of those interested elicited from Mr H. +Labouchere, then Colonial Secretary, the welcome expression of a great +constitutional principle: + +"The proposals contained in the Convention having been now +unequivocally refused by the colony, they will of course fall to the +ground; and you are authorized to give such assurance as you may think +proper, that the consent of the community of Newfoundland is regarded +by Her Majesty's Government as the essential preliminary to any +modification of their territorial or maritime rights." + +So vital is the appreciation of this principle to an Empire +constituted like our own, that it is worth while to set out the +resolution of the Newfoundland Legislature which killed the +Convention: + +"We deem it our duty most respectfully to protest in the most solemn +way against any attempt to alienate any portion of our fisheries or +our soil to any foreign power without the consent of the local +Legislature. As our fishery and territorial rights constitute the +basis of our commerce and of our social and political existence, as +they are our birthright and the legal inheritance of our children, we +cannot under any circumstances assent to the terms of the Convention; +we therefore earnestly entreat that the Imperial Government will take +no steps to bring this treaty into operation, but will permit the +trifling privileges that remain to us to continue unimpaired." + +In 1858 took place a real advance in the relations between different +parts of the Empire, for in that year the east coast of Newfoundland +(Trinity Bay) was connected with Ireland by a submarine cable. The +messages then exchanged through Newfoundland between the Queen and the +President of the United States mark the most decisive point in what +has been called the shrinkage of the world. Eight years later a second +Atlantic cable was successfully landed at Heart's Content. + +A constitutional crisis arose in 1860, which was followed by serious +political disturbances. The Government, in which Mr Kent was Premier, +introduced a measure to determine the colonial equivalent of imperial +sterling in the payment of officials. The judges forwarded to the +Governor, Sir Alexander Bannerman, a representation against the +proposal; Mr Kent thereupon in the Assembly accused the Governor of +having entered into a conspiracy with the judges and the minority in +the House against the executive. The Governor demanded an explanation +which Mr Kent declined to give, adding that in his judgment he was +not called upon to explain his utterances as a member of the +Legislature to the Governor. Sir Alexander Bannerman immediately +dismissed the Ministry, and invited the Opposition leader, Mr Hoyles, +to form an Administration. The election took place in April, 1861. +Political passions ran high, and the old feud between Romanists and +Protestants was most unhappily revived. At the Protestant Harbour +Grace the election could not be held at all, while at the Catholic +Harbour Main a riot took place in which life was lost. + +The new Assembly was opened in May 1861, and showed a majority in +favour of Mr Hoyles. It soon became clear that the passions of the mob +in St. John's were dangerously excited; Sir Alexander was hooted and +stoned on his return from the Assembly, and a little later an +organized series of attacks was commenced upon the dwellings of +well-known Roman Catholics. The magistrates thereupon called on the +military, under the command of Colonel Grant. The soldiers marched +out, eighty strong, and confronted the mob, which then numbered many +thousands. Encouraged by their commander, the troops submitted with +patient gallantry to insults and even to volleys of stones. Finally, +it is alleged, a pistol was fired at them from the crowd. Then at last +the order was given to fire; several persons were killed and twenty +wounded. Among the latter, by great misfortune, was the Rev. Jeremiah +O'Donnell, who had bravely and patiently tried to calm the mob. + +The whole incident was unfortunate, but it is impossible to accept the +contention that Sir Alexander Bannerman was guilty of an +unconstitutional exercise of the prerogative in dissolving the +Assembly. It will not seriously be maintained that the representative +of the Queen could have maintained relations with a Minister who +publicly insulted him in his public capacity, and then curtly declined +to explain or withdraw his charges. As to the sequel, it is sufficient +to say that the civil authorities would have been grossly wanting in +their duty if they had failed to call out the soldiers, and that the +mob were not fired upon until the extreme limits of endurance had been +reached. That innocent persons should have been involved in the +consequences is matter of great regret; but association with a lawless +mob, even when the motive is as admirable as that of Father O'Donnell, +necessarily admits this risk. + +It cannot be doubted that deep-lying economic causes had much to do +with political discontent. From the first the financial position of +the colony had been unsound. The short prosperity of the winter months +had produced a vicious and widely-spread system of credit. Soon a +majority of the fishermen lived during the winter upon the prospective +earnings of the coming season, and then when it came addressed +themselves without zest to an occupation the fruits of which were +already condemned. In this way a single bad season pauperized hundreds +of hard-working men. Governor Waldegrave in 1797 had been struck by +the failure of the law to provide for the poor, and owing to his +exertions a voluntary system of poor relief was set on foot. By the +time of Governor Gambier, in 1800, these measures had been +discontinued and, indeed, permanence was not to be looked for in a +system which depended upon voluntary support. The difficulty was that +the Crown officers advised Governor Gambier "that the provision of the +Poor Laws cannot be enforced in Newfoundland; and that the Governor +has no authority to raise a sum of money by a rate upon the +inhabitants." + +The evil grew worse rather than better, and by the time of the great +Governor Cochrane, in 1825, it had assumed the form of an inveterate +social disease. Many able-bodied applicants for relief were provided +with work in public employments, and the wholesome warning was added +that those who refused such work would under no circumstances be +entitled to relief. Governor Cochrane did not shrink from indicating +the real cause of the distress. "Those who are upon wages," he wrote, +"receive a sum during the summer months, which, if properly husbanded, +would, together with the produce of their own exertion after the +fishery has ceased, be fully adequate to the support of themselves +and families for the following winter. Yet I am led to believe that a +large portion of this is dissipated before many weeks or days have +elasped after the fishing season has terminated, and in consequence of +such profusion many families are left to want and misery." + +The generality of the system destroyed in time that healthy dread of +pauperism which, as an economic factor, is of the highest national +importance. The receipt of poor relief lost the stigma assigned to it +with rough justice by Anglo-Saxon independence, and in 1863, out of a +total public expenditure of £90,000, the astounding proportion of +£30,000 was expended upon the necessities of the poor. + +Far-seeing observers had long before pointed out that the remedy for +these disorders must be a radical one. Improvidence among the poorer +classes is familiar to economists in more experienced societies than +that of Newfoundland, and may be accepted as a permanent element in +the difficulty. The real hope lay in opening up, on remunerative +lines, industries which would occupy the poor in the lean months. Nor +was Newfoundland without such resources, if the capital necessary for +their development could have been found. A penetrating railway system, +by its indirect effects upon the mining and agricultural interests, +would have done much to solve the problem of the unemployed. The +difficulty was that the state of the public finances was in no +condition to undertake costly schemes of betterment. In a later +chapter we shall see the Government, after exhausting the resources of +loans, looking to a desperate remedy to conquer its powerlessness for +enterprise. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[40] Prowse, p. 473. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MODERN NEWFOUNDLAND + + +In 1869[41] took place a General Election, in which great Imperial +interests were involved. Governor Musgrave, in 1866, had advised +Federal union with the Canadian provinces--then about to federate +among themselves--and the election three years later was fought upon +this issue. The result was a complete rout for the Federal party; a +rout so complete that the question has hardly since reappeared within +the field of practical politics. The causes of this defeat were, in +the first place, economic considerations; secondly, Irish national +feeling and hostility to the union; and thirdly, a certain distrust +and dread of Canada. Judge Prowse, whose intimate knowledge of +Newfoundland entitles his opinion to special respect, thinks that even +in recent years there lingered some rankling memory of the days when +French Canadian raids terrified the colonists in the seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries.[42] However this may be, it is certain that the +outlying portions of the Empire hardly as yet felt the same community +with and loyalty to one another as they did with regard to the home +country. The relation of Newfoundland to the Dominion of Canada +resembles in many ways that of New Zealand to the new Australian +Federal system, and in each group of colonies there is a noticeable +drift towards centralization. Judge Prowse, who was a strong believer +in North American union both from an Imperial and from a Colonial +point of view, has fully indicated the difficulties. The Canadian +protectionist tariff, the greater attractions of the United States +market (inasmuch as the Dominion is a fish producer rather than a fish +consumer), the opposition which wide political changes unavoidably +excite--all these obstacles were formidable for the moment. It is +uncertain even now whether they will be strong enough to prevent, +indefinitely, the realization of the Confederate scheme. It is +possible that such a union would be followed by some disadvantages to +Newfoundland; but, on the other hand, the gain would be very great. +The politics of the colony would be braced by the ampler atmosphere of +the Dominion, and the tendency towards parochialism finally arrested. +The geographical difficulty ceased to exist when the United States +taught us how vast are the areas over which successful political +unions are possible. No one can fairly ask that Newfoundland should +take the step in the teeth of her own material interests; but, +assuming that union with Canada can be reconciled with those +interests, the Imperial issue holds the field. Its importance can +hardly be overstated. So soon as the several communities, which +together form the Empire, realize not merely their ties with the +Mother Country, but also their own organic interconnection, from that +moment the whole Imperial idea receives an immense accession of +strength.[43] But it is now elementary that Newfoundland, and +Newfoundland alone, can take this decision. She is the mistress of her +own destinies. + +It is unfortunate that the Blaine-Bond incident in 1890 should have +excited ill-feeling against Canada in the older colony. In September +of that year a treaty of trade regulating the purchase of bait, etc., +the shipping of crews, and transhipment of cargo (called, from the +delegates employed on each side,[44] the Blaine-Bond Treaty) was +informally negotiated between Newfoundland and the United States, and +a draft of a convention was prepared. In the following December this +draft was modified, but in January 1891, Mr Blaine submitted a +counter-proposal, which the United States were disposed to accept, +though they were not really anxious to effect the arrangement. The +treaty had been submitted to the Colonial Office, and approved by it; +but the ratification of the Imperial Government was refused at the +last moment. Probably the refusal would have caused less irritation in +the colony if it had sprung from Imperial considerations; as a fact, +it was procured by Canadian remonstrances against Newfoundland's +separate action in a matter concerning Canada also, and it was felt in +Newfoundland that the island had been sacrificed to the exigencies of +Canadian party politics. It may be added here that in 1902, another +separate agreement--the Hay-Bond Treaty--similar to the preceding, was +entered into, but was rejected by the United States Senate. +Accordingly the Newfoundland Government secured in 1905 the passing of +the Foreign Fishing Vessels Act which deprived the American fishermen +(more particularly those of Gloucester, Mass.) of the special +privileges hitherto conceded, leaving them the right under the +Convention of 1818. Disputes arose. The question was discussed at the +Imperial Conference in 1907. After temporary alleviation of the +difficulties by a _modus vivendi_, the British and American +Governments came to the conclusion that the best remedy lay in a +submission to the Hague Court of Arbitration: in 1909 the terms of +reference were agreed to, and on September 1910 the award was +given.[45] Newfoundland was thereby placed in a very favourable +position for dealing with the discrimination exercised against fish +exported to America by Newfoundlanders. The points decided were: (1) +The right to make regulations as to the exercise of the liberty to +take fish, under the Treaty of 1818, is inherent to the sovereignty of +Great Britain; (2) The United States has the right to employ +non-Americans in the fisheries, but they are not entitled to benefit +or immunity from the said Treaty; (3) While American fishing vessels +may be required to report at colonial ports when convenient, such +vessels should not be subject to the purely commercial formalities of +report, entry, and clearance at a Custom House, nor to light, harbour, +or other dues not imposed upon Newfoundland fishermen; (4) American +fishing vessels entering certain colonial bays, for shelter, repairs, +wood and water, should not be subject to dues or other demands for +doing so, but they might be required to report to any reasonably +convenient Custom House or official; (5) In the case of bays, +mentioned in the Treaty of 1818, three marine miles are to be measured +from a straight line drawn across the body of water at the place where +it ceases to bear the configuration and characteristics of a bay. At +all other places the three marine miles are to be measured following +the sinuosities of the coast. + +To return to the period now under consideration. It saw a bold attempt +to deal with the Poor-law scandal. Relief to able-bodied persons was +discontinued in 1868. A succession of good fishing seasons, and the +development of the mining industry, lessened the difficulty of the +step. Seven years later came a still more momentous proposal. "The +period appears to have arrived," said Governor Hill, in his opening +speech to the Legislature, "when a question which has for some time +engaged public discussion, viz., the construction of a railway across +the island to St. George's Bay, should receive a practical +solution.... There is a well-founded expectation that the line of +railway would attract to our shores the mail and passenger traffic of +the Atlantic ... and thus would be secured those vast commercial +advantages which our geographical position manifestly entitles us to +command. As a preliminary to this object a proposition will be +submitted to you for a thorough survey, to ascertain the most eligible +line, and with a view to the further inquiry whether the colony does +not possess within itself the means of inducing capitalists to +undertake this great enterprise of progress." + +It is easy to forget, in speaking of Newfoundland until 1875, how very +little was known of the interior. The Newfoundland with which we are +concerned consisted in fact of a few towns on the coast, with a great +and imperfectly explored interior behind them. Even down to the +beginning of the twentieth century very little was known of much of +the island. It is difficult to assign limits to the developments which +are probable when a thorough system of internal communication shall +have given free play to each latent industry. + +The first proposal was that a railway should be constructed from St. +John's to St. George's Bay, but objections were made from England on +the ground that the line would end on the French shore. Then came the +proposal that it should run from St. John's to Hall's Bay, with +branches to Brigus and Harbour Grace, covering in all a distance of +about 340 miles. A joint committee of both Houses prepared a report, +which became the basis of the Bill (1880). One sentence is worth +quoting, because it states very clearly the difficulties which have +played so large a part in the history of Newfoundland: + +"The question of the future of our growing population has for some +time enjoyed the earnest attention of all thoughtful men in this +country, and has been the subject of serious solicitude. The fisheries +being our main resource, and to a large extent the only dependence of +the people, those periodic partial failures which are incident to such +pursuits continue to be attended with recurring visitations of +pauperism, and there seems no remedy to be found for this condition of +things but that which may lie in varied and extensive pursuits.... Our +fisheries have no doubt increased, but not in a measure corresponding +to our measure of population; and even though they were capable of +being expanded, that object would be largely neutralized by the +decline in price which follows from a large catch, as no increase of +markets can be found to give remunerative returns for an augmented +supply." + +The Act was passed, which empowered the raising of a loan of +£1,000,000 for the purpose of constructing the proposed railway. By +November, 1884, the line was completed as far as Harbour Grace; by +1888 a further instalment of some twenty-seven miles was ready between +Whitbourne and Placentia; soon afterwards it was decided to recommence +building the line northwards from St. John's to Hall's Bay, which has +been discontinued through the failure of the contractors, and to carry +out the scheme the Reid Contract was entered into. + +We are now reaching a period when the leading parts are played by +persons still or recently living, and the story must therefore be +continued with the reserve proper to one who is not himself an +inhabitant of Newfoundland. Particularly is this true of the much +discussed Reid Contract, the circumstances of which are reserved, from +their great importance, for a separate chapter.[46] + +It is unfortunate that the ensuing stage of this short narrative +should be marred by so much trouble, but, in fact, the last ten years +of the nineteenth century have been among the most disastrous in the +history of the island. In 1892 came the most destructive of all the +fires with which St. John's has been afflicted. The fire broke out in +a stable at five o'clock on the afternoon of Friday, July 8th, and +lasted until nine o'clock on Saturday morning. It came at the end of a +month's draught, was helped by a powerful wind, and found the town +with a depleted water supply. Arising in an eastern suburb, the flames +were carried right into the business centre of the town, and finally +reached the rich warehouses of Water Street. Eye witnesses describe +the heat as so intense that brick and stone offered little more +resistance than wood. A mile of wharfage was destroyed, and Water +Street completely gutted. "Over a vast area," wrote one who noted the +effects, "nothing is now to be seen but tottering walls and chimneys." +It was computed that 10,000 persons were left homeless, and that the +total damage exceeded 20,000,000 dollars, of which less than 5,000,000 +dollars were covered by insurance. The Savings Bank, the Hospital, the +Masonic Hall, and the Anglican Cathedral, alike perished. To complete +the misery of the sufferers, it soon became known that the food supply +remaining was only sufficient for ten days. As in 1846, the sympathy +of Canada was promptly and warmly shown. The day after the fire 4,000 +dollars' worth of provisions were sent over, and military tents +sufficient to shelter 1,200 people. In England, a Mansion House fund +was immediately opened by the Lord Mayor of London, and its final +amount fell little short of £20,000. Sir Terence O'Brien, the +Governor, and Lady O'Brien, happened to be in England at the time, and +they threw themselves warmly into the cause of the colony. + +In 1894, a misfortune of a different kind happened. On Monday, +December 10th, the Commercial Bank, the Union Bank, and the Savings +Bank, which had all been long established, were compelled to suspend +payment. A widespread panic followed, and all business was paralysed. +Workmen were dismissed wholesale, no money being available for the +payment of their wages. To make the crisis graver still, the Union +Bank was to have provided the interest on the Public Debt, which was +payable in London on January 1st. The population feared that the crash +would bring about riots and other dread occurrences. In aggravation of +the risk the rumour spread that Newfoundland was about to be +incorporated into the Dominion of Canada as a mere province. The +Government telegraphed to the authorities in London for an immediate +loan of £200,000, and requested that a warship should be despatched in +view of imminent disturbances. The causes which led immediately to the +failure were well stated in a Dalziel telegram to _The Times_:[47] + +"The immediate cause of the financial crisis which has overwhelmed +Newfoundland was the death of Mr Hall, a partner in the firm of Messrs +Prowse, Hall & Morris, the London agents of the firms exporting fish +to European markets. On his death the firm declined to meet further +exchanges until an investigation of their affairs had been made. Their +bills were protested, and the banks made demands on the Commercial +Bank of St. John's, which was the drawer of the bills, and which, +being unable to meet the demands made upon it, fell back upon its +mercantile customers. These could not respond, and the bank had to +suspend operations. The customers were compelled to make assignments, +and nearly every business house in the colony was crippled, so +interwoven are the affairs of one establishment with those of another. + +"The situation was only possible under the peculiar business customs +of the colony. The fishing industry here is pursued under a system of +advances for vessels and equipments made by the merchants to the +fishermen, who gave the catch at the end of the season in exchange. +The merchants receive large advances from the only two banks doing +business here, the Union Bank of Newfoundland and the Commercial Bank. +By backing each other's bills the banks are enabled to carry on +operations, and then at the close of the year, when the produce of the +fisheries is realized, they are able to settle their overdrafts. + +"The disaster happened at a most unfortunate time. If it had been +postponed for another month the merchants would have realized on most +of the fish, and the assets would have been far more valuable. At +present, 2,000,000 dollars' worth of fishery products are stored in +St. John's awaiting the means of shipment. Until financial aid from +the outside world is obtained, it is impossible to place the fish on +the market." + +At this time the financial position of the colony was thoroughly +unsound. Its population numbered roughly 200,000 persons, and its +Public Debt amounted to 14,000,000 dollars, or nearly three million +pounds sterling. The Ministry of the day resigned, after an +unsuccessful attempt to form a coalition Government, and its +successors applied for Imperial help, an application which logically +involved the surrender of the Constitution. In fact, the unassisted +credit of the colony seemed hopeless, for in a year or two the railway +reckonings had to be met. The Government had issued bonds whereof +yearly interest was to become payable on completion, amounting to +almost a third of the total revenue of the colony.[48] + +Such temporary measures as the nature of the crisis admitted were +taken locally. The Legislature passed two Bills guaranteeing a +portion of the note issue of both the Union Bank and the Commercial +Bank; while a loan of 400,000 dollars was procured from the Bank of +Montreal, and additional loans from the Bank of Nova Scotia and the +Royal Bank of Canada: thus "the financial sceptre passed to +Canada."[49] At the same time the manager and directors of the +Commercial Bank were arrested on a charge of having presented a +fraudulent balance sheet. Reuter's correspondent at St. John's noted +that in this time of trouble the idea of union with Canada gained +ground rapidly. How hopeless the position seemed to calm observers on +the spot may be gathered from the following vivid extracts from a +letter by _The Times_ correspondent at St. John's:[50] + +"Twelve large firms controlled the whole export trade of the +colony--fish oils and fish products, valued at about 7,000,000 +dollars. Of these twelve only two remain ... and these are sorely +stricken. These firms occupied the whole waterside premises of St. +John's, gave employment to hundreds of storekeepers, coopers, +stevedores, and others, beside some thousands of unskilled labourers +occupied in the handling of the fish. All these men are now without a +day's work, or any means of obtaining it. The isolation of the colony, +away out in the Atlantic with no neighbour, is its greatest curse. +People unemployed cannot emigrate, but must swell an army of +industrials depending on the Government for relief. The city is a +veritable aggregation of unemployed; it is a city to let. Every +business, factory, wharf, store, or shop employing labour has either +suspended business or has curtailed the number of its employees to the +lowest possible limit. It is not unreasonable to estimate the number +unemployed here to-day at 6,000, every one of whom must be without +work until spring opens." + +It is not surprising to find that in this difficulty the minds of the +colonists turned towards the Imperial Exchequer. But the distinction +is vital between an Imperial grant in relief of a visitation of nature +and a grant in relief of financial disasters which may be the result +of improvidence or extravagance. The Imperial Exchequer is drawn from +complex sources, and cannot be diverted to irregular purposes without +injustice to large numbers of poor people. These facts were not +unnaturally overlooked in Newfoundland, for in trouble the sense of +proportion is apt to disappear. Thus on March 2nd, 1895, Sir W. +Whiteway, the Newfoundland Premier, in a letter to _The Times_, said: + +"We have approached Her Majesty's Government, and solicited a mere +guarantee of interest to the amount of a few thousand pounds per annum +for a limited period, in order to enable the colony to float its loans +and tide it over the present temporary difficulties. Up to date the +people of this old, loyal colony have received no response. They have +been struggling against difficulties in the past, and if they still +have to trust to their own inherent pluck, and to the resources of the +country, they must only passively submit, although they may the more +bitterly feel the heartless treatment of the Imperial Government +towards them." + +The touch of bitterness in Sir William Whiteway's letter was, perhaps, +unreasonable. Mr Goodridge was Premier at the time of the crash, and +his Government at once appealed for help to England, on the ground +that if it were not forthcoming the colony would be unable to meet its +obligations. A proposal was added that a Royal Commission should be +appointed to inquire into the whole political and commercial position +of the colony. Mr Goodridge was unable to keep his place, and his +Government was followed by that of Mr Greene. The new Government at +once inquired whether, if the Newfoundland Legislature acquiesced in +the appointment of a Commission, financial help would be immediately +forthcoming. They desired information also as to the scope of the +Commission and the terms on which assistance would be given. To this +the answer was inevitable, that all these points must depend upon the +findings of the Commission. In fact, the Colonial Government wished +for an unconditional loan and an assurrance that the Constitution of +the island would not be interfered with. Mr Greene, in turn, proved +unable to hold his ground, and was succeeded by Sir William Whiteway. +The latter substituted for the earlier proposals a request that the +Newfoundland bonds should be guaranteed by the Imperial Government; +the suggested Commission being ignored. This was the request referred +to in Sir William's letter. Now it is very clear that although the +amount involved was relatively small, a very important principle was +raised. Responsible government has its privileges and its obligations, +the latter of which flow logically from the former. The Imperial +Government charges itself with responsibility for the finances of a +Crown colony because it directs the policy and determines the +establishment on which the finances so largely depend. It is not +reasonable to ask that the British taxpayer should assume +responsibility for liabilities incurred by a colony with responsible +government. The _toga virilis_ has responsibilities. The case might, +perhaps, be different if there were no danger that the concession of +help might be drawn into a precedent. But it must never be forgotten +that the aggregate public debts of the self-governing colonies at +about that time exceeded £300,000,000. + +The crisis of 1895 has been dealt with at some little length, because +it would be impossible otherwise to understand the occasion of the +great Reid Contract, which will form the subject of the next chapter. +It so happens that the last ten years of the nineteenth century have +been more momentous than any equal period in the history of the +colony. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[41] The census of this year showed that the population had increased +to 146,536. + +[42] _Op. cit._, p. 495. + +[43] This question of union was frequently raised--notably in 1906, +and during the Great War in 1916 and 1917 (see end of chap. ix.). + +[44] Sir Robert Bond, the ex-Premier of Newfoundland; Mr J.G. Blaine, +the American Secretary of State. + +[45] House of Commons Papers, Miscellaneous, No. 3, 1910, Cd. 5396. + +[46] See chap. ix. + +[47] December 14th, 1894. + +[48] See General Dashwood's letter to _The Times_, December 18th, +1894. + +[49] Rogers, p. 189. + +[50] January 17th, 1895. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE REID CONTRACT--GENERAL PROGRESS AND RECENT HISTORY + + +The next few years may be dismissed briefly, for they were years of +unrelieved melancholy, from the point of view of the public financial +policy and the political development of the colony. Nor did the +disease admit of a readily applicable remedy. The experience of each +decade had shown more and more clearly that the colony had nothing in +reserve--no variety of pursuits to support the general balance of +prosperity by alternations of success. Potentially its resources were +almost incalculably great, but their development was impossible +without capital or credit. The colony had neither. Under these +circumstances took place the General Election of October, 1897. The +assets of the colony were not before the electorate, and there was no +reason to suppose that financial proposals of an extraordinary kind +were in contemplation. The result of the election placed Sir James +Winter in power. In six months the famous "Reid Contract" had been +entered into--a contract which must be described at some length in +these pages, partly because it throws a vivid light upon the +constitutional relations between the Mother Country and a +self-governing colony, partly because it appears to be incomparably +the most important event in the recent history of Newfoundland. + +On February 22nd, 1898, Mr Chamberlain received a telegram from the +Governor, Sir Herbert Murray, advising him that a novel resolution had +been submitted to the Houses of Legislature by his responsible +advisers. A fuller telegram six days later, and a letter intervening, +explained the proposals in detail. To put the matter as shortly as +possible, the Government advised the sale to a well-known Canadian +contractor, Mr R.G. Reid, of certain valuable colonial assets. In the +first place, Mr Reid was to purchase all lines of railway from the +Government for 1,000,000 dollars; this amount was the price of the +ultimate reversion, the contractor undertaking to operate the lines +for fifty years on agreed terms, and to re-ballast them. If he failed +in this operation his reversionary rights became forfeit. For carrying +the Government mails he was to receive an annual subsidy of 42,000 +dollars. Minute covenants by the contractor were inserted in the draft +contract, "in consideration whereof," it continued, "the Government +hereby covenant and agree to and with the contractor, to grant to him +in fee simple ... 5,000 acres of land for each one mile of main line +or branch railway throughout the entire length of the lines to be +operated: the expression 'in fee simple' to include with the land all +mines, ores, precious metals, minerals, stones, and mineral oils of +every kind." Besides these general concessions a particular grant of +mineral land was made. The areas of land near Grand Lake, in which +coal had been discovered, were transferred to Mr Reid, on condition +that he should so work the coal mines as to produce not less than +50,000 tons of coal per annum. + +The contract then passed on to deal with the service of mail steamers. +Under this head eight steamers for various services were to be +provided by the contractor, and by him manned and equipped. In +consideration therefor the Government undertook to pay subsidies upon +an agreed scale. The docks were next disposed of. Under this head the +Government agreed to sell to the contractor the St. John's Dry Dock +for 325,000 dollars. The next available asset was the telegraph +service. Here the agreement provided that the contractor should assume +responsibility for all telegraph lines until 1904, in return for an +annual subsidy of 10,000 dollars, and after 1904, until the period of +fifty years was completed, should maintain them free of any charge to +the colony by way of subsidy or otherwise. + +By a later section of the draft contract it was provided that the +contractor should not assign or sublet the contract, or any part or +portion thereof, to any person or corporation whomsoever without the +consent of the Government. The language of this prohibition is +curiously general, and is indeed sufficient in its terms to prohibit +assignments _mortis causa_, as well as those _inter vivos_. Such a +result can hardly have been contemplated. + +By the last section it was recorded that "the Government undertake to +enact all such legislation as may be necessary to give full effect to +the contract and the several clauses and provisions thereof, according +to the spirit and intent thereof, and also such as may be necessary to +facilitate and enforce the collection and payment of fares and rates, +the preservation of order and discipline in the trains and stations, +and generally to give to the contractor all such powers, rights, and +privileges as are usually conferred upon or granted to railways and +railway companies for the purposes of their business." + +Such, in barest outline, was the proposal of which Mr Chamberlain was +informed by Governor Murray. It certainly involved a sacrifice +incalculably grave of the colony's prospects, but those who brought it +forward no doubt reflected on the truism that he who has expectations, +but neither assets nor credit, must reinforce the latter by drawing in +some degree upon the former. In fact, it seems to have been doubtful +whether, at the time, the colony could by any device meet its +obligations as they became due. The force of these observations must +be frankly conceded; but it may still be doubted whether a less +desperate remedy was not within the grasp of resourceful +statesmanship. In his first telegram, sent on March 2nd, 1898, Mr +Chamberlain called attention to the more apparent objections: + +"The future of the colony will be placed entirely in the hands of the +contractor by the railway contract, which appears highly improvident. +As there seems to be no penalty provided for failure to operate the +railways, the contract is essentially the sale of a million and a +quarter acres for a million dollars." + +From the legal point of view the contract was a very singular one. The +Government of Newfoundland, in fact, assumed to bind its successors by +a partial abdication of sovereign power. Yet the same capacity which +enabled the then Government to bind itself would equally and evidently +inhere in its successors to revoke the obligation. Those who are +struck by the conscientious obligation which the then Government could +no doubt bequeath, may ask themselves how long a democratically +governed country would tolerate corruption or ineptitude in the public +service on the ground that the monopolist worker of them had inherited +a franchise from an ancestor who had known how to exploit the public +necessities. The virtual expropriation of the Irish landlords, which +was in progress in the United Kingdom, may have been right or it may +have been wrong; it is at least a far more startling interference with +vested interest than would be the resumption by a State of control +over heedlessly aliened public services. + +Whatever be the force of these observations, the disadvantages of the +Newfoundland Government's specific proposals were patent enough. Nor +were they unperceived in the colony, and in particular by the enemies +of the Ministry. The islanders stopped fishing and took to petitions. +These were numerous and lengthy, and it is only proposed to consider +here the petition which was sent by dissentient members of the House +of Assembly, containing a formidable indictment of the proposed +agreement. The objections brought forward may be briefly summarized: + +1. The electors were never consulted. + +2. The Bill was an absolute conveyance in fee simple of all the +railways, the docks, telegraph lines, mineral, timber, and +agricultural lands of the colony, and virtually disposed of all the +assets, representing a funded debt of 17,000,000 dollars, for +£280,000. + +3. While the Bill conveyed large and valuable mineral, agricultural, +and timber areas, amounting, with former concessions, to four million +acres, it made no provision for the development of these lands. + +4. The conveyance embraced the whole Government telegraph system of +the colony. + +5. It included a monopoly for the next thirty years of the coastal +carrying trade. + +6. It included the sale of the dry dock, and the granting, without +consideration, of valuable waterside property belonging to the +Municipal Council of St. John's. + +On March 23rd Mr Chamberlain answered the representation of Governor +Murray, and the profuse petitions which the latter had forwarded. Both +from the general constitutional significance of the reply, and its +particular importance in the history of Newfoundland, it is convenient +to reproduce the letter in full: + + Mr Chamberlain to Governor Sir H.H. Murray. + + Downing Street, + + March 23rd, 1898. + + SIR,--In my telegram of the 2nd instant I informed + you that if your Ministers, after fully considering the + objections urged to the proposed contract with Mr R.G. Reid + for the sale and operation of the Government railways and + other purposes, still pressed for your signature to that + instrument, you would not be constitutionally justified in + refusing to follow their advice, as the responsibility for the + measure rested entirely with them. + + 2. Whatever views I may hold as to the propriety of the + contract, it is essentially a question of local finance, and + as Her Majesty's Government have no responsibility for the + finance of self-governing colonies, it would be improper for + them to interfere in such a case unless Imperial interests + were directly involved. On these constitutional grounds I was + unable to advise you to withhold your assent to the Bill + confirming the contract. + + 3. I have now received your despatches as noted in the margin, + giving full information as to the terms of the contract, and + the grounds upon which your Government have supported it, as + well as the reasons for which it was opposed by the Leader and + some members of the Opposition. + + 4. I do not propose to enter upon a discussion of the details + of the contract, or of the various arguments for and against + it, but I cannot refrain from expressing my views as to the + serious consequences which may result from this extraordinary + measure. + + 5. Under this contract, and the earlier one of 1893, for the + construction of the railway, practically all the Crown lands + of any value become, with full rights to all minerals, the + freehold property of a single individual: the whole of the + railways are transferred to him, the telegraphs, the postal + service, and the local sea communications, as well as the + property in the dock at St. John's. Such an abdication by a + Government of some of its most important functions is without + parallel. + + 6. The colony is divested for ever of any control over or + power of influencing its own development, and of any direct + interest in or direct benefit from that development. It will + not even have the guarantee for efficiency and improvement + afforded by competition, which would tend to minimize the + danger of leaving such services in the hands of private + individuals. + + 7. Of the energy, capacity, and character of Mr Reid, in whose + hands the future of the colony is thus placed, both yourself + and your predecessor have always spoken in the highest terms, + and his interests in the colony are already so enormous that + he has every motive to work for and to stimulate its + development; but he is already, I believe, advanced in years, + and though the contract requires that he shall not assign or + sublet it to any person or corporation without the consent of + the Government, the risk of its passing into the hands of + people less capable and possessing less interest in the + development of the colony is by no means remote. + + 8. All this has been fully pointed out to your Ministers and + the Legislature, and I can only conclude that they have + satisfied themselves that the danger and evils resulting from + the corruption which, according to the statement of the + Receiver-General, has attended the administration of these + services by the Government, are more serious than any evils + that can result from those services being transferred + unreservedly to the hands of a private individual or + corporation; and that, in fact, they consider that it is + beyond the means and capacity of the colony to provide for the + honest and efficient maintenance of these services, and that + they must, therefore, be got rid of at whatever cost. + + 9. That they have acted thus in what they believe to be the + best interests of the colony I have no reason to doubt; but, + whether or not it is the case, as they allege, that the + intolerable burden of the Public Debt, and the position in + which the colony was left by the contract of 1893, rendered + this sacrifice inevitable, the fact that the colony, after + more than forty years of self-government, should have to + resort to such a step is greatly to be regretted. + + 10. I have to request that in communicating this despatch to + your Ministers you will inform them that it is my wish that it + may be published in the _Gazette_. + + I have, etc., + J. CHAMBERLAIN. + +Some of the inferences set forth in the Colonial Secretary's lucid +letter were questioned by the Newfoundland Government, but +substantially his conclusions were not assailed. The decision of the +Imperial Government by no means stayed the voice of local agitation, +and the stream of petitions continued to grow. In a further letter to +Governor Murray, dated December 5th, 1898, Mr Chamberlain laid down +the great constitutional doctrine which is the Magna Charta of Greater +Britain. Every student of colonial politics should be familiar with +these passages: + +"The right to complete and unfettered control over financial policy +and arrangements is essential to self-government, and has been +invariably acknowledged and respected by Her Majesty's Government, and +jealously guarded by the colonies. The Colonial Government and +Legislature are solely responsible for the management of its finances +to the people of the colony, and unless Imperial interests of grave +importance were imperilled, the intervention of Her Majesty's +Government in such matters would be an unwarrantable intrusion and a +breach of the charter of the colony. + +"It is nowhere alleged that the interests of any other part of the +Empire are involved, or that the Act is any way repugnant to Imperial +legislation. It is asserted, indeed, that the contract disposes of +assets of the colony over which its creditors in this country have an +equitable, if not a legal claim; but, apart from the fact that the +assets in question are mainly potential, and that the security of the +colonial debt is its general revenue and not any particular property +or assets, I cannot admit that the creditors of the colony have any +right to claim the interference of Her Majesty's Government in this +matter. It is on the faith of the Colonial Government and Legislature +that they have advanced their money, and it is to them that they must +appeal if they consider themselves damnified. + +"No doubt, if it was seriously alleged that the Act involved a breach +of faith or a confiscation of the rights of absent persons, Her +Majesty's Government would have to consider it carefully, and consider +whether the discredit which such action on the part of a colony would +entail on the rest of the Empire rendered it necessary for them to +intervene. But no such charge is made, and if Her Majesty's Government +were to intervene whenever the domestic legislation of a colony was +alleged to affect the rights of residents, the right of +self-government would be restricted to very narrow limits.... + +"The fact that the constituencies were not consulted on a measure of +such importance might have furnished a reason for its rejection by the +Upper Chamber, but would scarcely justify the Secretary of State in +advising its disallowance even if it were admitted as a general +principle of constitutional government in Newfoundland that the +Legislature has no right to entertain any measure of first importance +without an immediate mandate from the electors." + +The passing of the particular Bill by no means brought the Reid +controversy to an end. In fact, the General Election in Newfoundland, +of which the result was announced in November 1900, was fought +entirely upon this absorbing question. The issue arose in the +following way. The contract contained a clause providing that Mr Reid +should not assign his rights over the railway without the consent of +the Government. Mr Reid applied to the Government of Sir James Winter +for such consent, but when that Government was defeated in February +1900, no answer had been received. Mr Reid wished to turn all his +holdings in the colony over to a corporation capitalized at 25,000,000 +dollars, he and his three sons forming the company. On the properties +included he proposed to raise 5,000,000 dollars by debenture bonds, +this sum to be expended in development.[51] + +A Liberal Ministry under Mr Bond, who had consistently opposed the +Reid arrangements, displaced Sir James Winter. Finding himself unable +to hold his own in the Assembly, Mr Bond formed a coalition with Mr +Morris, the leader of a section of Liberals who had not associated +themselves with the party opposition to the contract. The terms of +accommodation were simple: "The contract was to be treated as a _fait +accompli_, but no voluntary concessions were to be made to Mr Reid +except for a consideration." Consistently with this view, Mr Reid was +informed by the Government that the permission he requested would be +given upon the following terms: + +(1) He should agree to resign his proprietary rights in the railway. + +(2) He should restore the telegraphs to the ownership of the +Government. + +(3) He should consent to various modifications of his land grants in +the interest of squatters able to establish their _de facto_ +possession. + +To these terms the contractor was not prepared to accede. It is +difficult not to feel sympathy with his refusal. I had the advantage +of hearing the contention on this point of a well-known Newfoundland +Liberal, who brought forward intelligible, but not, I think, +convincing arguments. The clause against assignment without the +consent of Government ought surely to be qualified by the implied +condition that such consent must not be unreasonably withheld. In the +private law of England equity has long since grafted this implication +upon prohibitions against assignment. If, however, the Government had +been content with a blunt _non possumus_, a case could no doubt have +been made out for insisting upon their pound of flesh. They chose, +however, to do the one thing which was neither dignified nor +defensible: they offered to assent to an assignment on condition that +Mr Reid surrendered his most valuable privileges. It is no answer to +say, as many Newfoundland Liberals did say: We opposed the contract +from the start, and it is therefore impossible for us to assent to any +extension of the contractor's privileges. In fact, such an argument +seems to betray an inability to understand the ground principle on +which party government depends. That principle, of course, is the +loyal acceptance by each party on entering office of the completed +legislation of its predecessors. To borrow a metaphor from the Roman +lawyers, the _hereditas_ may be _damnosa_, but the party succeeds +thereto as a _hæres necessarius_. Any other rule would substitute +anarchy for order, and an endless process of reversing the past for a +salutary attention to the present. + +It must, on the other hand, be admitted that Mr Reid's conduct was not +very well chosen to reassure his critics. He threw himself heart and +soul into the General Election which became imminent, and displayed +little judiciousness in his selection of nominees to fight seats in +his interests. It is hard to suppose that independent men were not +discoverable to lay stress on the immediate relief to the colony which +the contract secured, and the inexorable necessity of which it might +plausibly be represented to be the outcome. Mr Morine was Mr Reid's +solicitor. He was a prominent Conservative and Minister of Finance, +and his influence in the Assembly (where his connection with Mr Reid +was apparently unknown) had been exerted in favour of the contract. +When challenged on the point, Mr Morine asserted that he advised Mr +Reid only on private matters, in which his interests would not come +into conflict with those of the colony. Compelled to resign, however, +by Governor Murray on account of the apparently incompatible duality +of his position, he was reinstated (April, 1899) by Governor M'Callum, +on an undertaking that his connection with Mr Reid should be suspended +during office. Mr Morine became leader of the Conservative party on +the retirement of Sir James Winter, reassuming at the same time his +business relations with Mr Reid. In concert with the latter he began a +political campaign in opposition to the Liberal party. His partner, Mr +Gibbs, fought another seat in the same interest. _The Times_ +correspondent above referred to gives an amusing account of other +candidates: + +"One of Mr Reid's sons has been accompanying him through his +constituency, and is mooted as a candidate. Two captains of Reid's bay +steamers are running for other seats. The clothier who supplies the +uniforms for Reid's officials is another, and a shipmaster, who until +recently was ship's husband for the Reid steamers, is another. His +successor, who is a member of the Upper House, has issued a letter +warmly endorsing Mr Morine's policy, and it is now said that one of +Reid's surveying staff will be nominated for another constituency." + +It may easily be imagined that to the ordinary voter the Conservative +_personnel_ proved somewhat disquieting. Success at the polls would +have enabled Mr Reid to say, with Louis XIV.--"_L'Etat, c'est moi._" +Amid extraordinary excitement the election was fought in the autumn of +1900 on the sole issue of the Reid contract, and resulted in a +sweeping victory for the Liberal party, supporting Mr Bond in his +policy as to Mr Reid's monopolies. + +The Reid Contract has been dealt with at this length at a sacrifice of +proportion which the writer believes to be apparent rather than real. +Newfoundland is newly emerged from infancy. The story of its childhood +is relatively uneventful, but the political experiments of its +adolescence must be of absorbing interest to all students of politics. + +In 1901 an Act was passed giving sanction to a new agreement with Mr +Reid in regard to the railways, and incorporating the Reid +Newfoundland Company. Under the agreement the sum of one million +dollars was to be paid to him in consideration of the surrender by him +of the right to own the railway at the end of 1938; and 850,000 +dollars instead of 2½ million acres of land to which he had become +entitled as a bonus for undertaking to operate the railway until 1938. +He still had, however, claims in respect of certain rolling-stock and +equipment that had been provided under earlier contracts; and also +claims arising through the surrender of the telegraphs. All these were +submitted to arbitration, resulting in awards to Mr Reid of 894,000 +dollars and 1½ million dollars respectively. However, under the new +arrangement, Mr Reid ceased to be the virtual owner of the railway +system; and became merely a contractor for its operation. The Reid +Newfoundland Company, by agreement with Mr Reid, and with a capital of +25 million dollars, came into possession of over 2½ million acres of +land, with timber, mineral, and other rights thereon, and took over +all existing contracts for working the railway, and mail and steamboat +services of the colony, including St. John's Dry Dock and the St. +John's tramways, as well as powers for electric lighting in the +capital. The new Company commenced operations on September 1st, 1901. + +With the beginning of the twentieth century was inaugurated an epoch +of political as well as economic progress in the history of the +island. The numerous and widespread activities of the new enterprise +gave a great impetus to the colony: it ensured the efficient working +of the railway, and gave employment at a good wage to an army of +working men in the various branches, and also in connection with the +flotilla of steamers that were run. Other spheres of activity were +gradually opened up, _e.g._ the establishment of a sawmill to furnish +the timber necessary for the various needs of the scheme, the opening +of a granite quarry to supply material for bridge building and paving +the streets of the capital, the development of a slate area and oil +boring, coal mining, the construction of a hotel in St. John's, etc. +The expansion of the undertaking increased from year to year, and +included such projects as the establishment of flour mills, pulp and +paper mills, etc. Next to the Government itself, the Reid Company +became the largest paymaster in the island.[52] + +Other factors contributing to the material advancement of the country +were the development of the iron mines at Belle Island, and the +production of pulp and paper by the "Anglo-Newfoundland Development +Company," the initiators and controllers of which were Messrs +Harmsworth, the well-known newspaper proprietors. This company was +followed soon afterwards by the Albert Reed Company of London. + +A few of the main events in the recent history of the colony may now +be referred to; these, taking us down to the Great War, will suitably +conclude the present chapter. First may be mentioned a curious +development in the political arena. In 1902 the Ministerial candidates +suffered a complete defeat in a by-election; and this result was +attributed to two causes--in the first place, deficient fishing +returns, and secondly, popular dissatisfaction at the monetary gains +secured by Mr Reid. The contest of 1904 was further complicated by the +formation of a number of factions in the ranks of the Opposition. The +latter eventually joined their forces under five leaders, and, +including all elements hostile to the party in power, took the field +against the Bond-Morris Government. But the sympathies of the people +were alienated from such an unusual combination, composed as it was of +antithetical constituents, and when it was in addition rumoured that +their aim was to effect a union with Canada, they suffered a severe +reverse at the elections. Only Mr Morine was returned for his +constituency; and he had no more than five followers in the Assembly. +In these circumstances it was thought that Sir Robert Bond's +administration was ensured a long term of office. But in July 1907 Sir +Edward Morris, then Minister of Justice, resigned through a +disagreement with the Premier on a question of the amount of wages to +be paid to the employees in the Public Works. The Opposition under Mr +Morison (succeeding Mr Morine, who had shortly before left +Newfoundland for Canada) co-operated with leading supporters of Sir +Edward Morris and invited him to become the leader of a united party. +He accepted the offer, and issued a manifesto in March 1908, +indicating his policy. The number of his adherents increased, as a +result of his efforts in the Assembly. In the following November the +quadrennial general election took place, which was vigorously--indeed +bitterly--contested; and the result was a tie, eighteen supporters +having been returned for Sir Robert Bond, and eighteen for the +Opposition--a unique occurrence apparently in the history of +self-governing colonies. The success of Sir Edward Morris was regarded +as remarkable, in view of several disadvantages from which he suffered +in the eyes of large sections of the population, _e.g._ his being a +Roman Catholic (every Premier during the preceding half century had +been a Protestant), his alleged sympathy with Mr Reid, and his alleged +support of union with Canada. The Governor, Sir William MacGregor, +having been requested by Sir Robert Bond to summon the Legislature, +was then required by him, on the very eve of the session, to dissolve +it, without giving it an opportunity to meet. The Governor refusing to +do this, Sir Robert Bond, conformably to usage, resigned along with +his cabinet. Sir Edward Morris was accordingly called upon to form a +ministry; but at the meeting of the Assembly the attempt to elect a +Speaker failed, owing to the opposition of the Bond party. The +Governor next endeavoured to obtain a coalition Ministry, but failed, +and a dissolution was granted (April, 1909). At the election in May +the Morris administration was returned with a substantial +majority--the new ministry for the first time in the history of the +island consisting entirely of natural-born Newfoundlanders. The course +adopted by the Governor, who had been charged by followers of Sir +Robert Bond with partisanship and unconstitutional conduct, was thus +vindicated by the election, and also approved by the Imperial +authorities. In a despatch from the Colonial Office, November 14th, +Lord Crewe observed: + +"... It will be learned from my previous despatches and telegrams that +your action throughout the difficult political situation, which was +created in the colony by the indecisive result of the last general +election, has met with my approval, but I desire to place publicly on +record my high appreciation of the manner in which you have handled a +situation practically unprecedented in the history of responsible +Government in the Dominions. I may add that I consider your decision +to grant a dissolution to Sir Edward Morris--which has, I observe, +been adversely criticized in a section of the Newfoundland press--to +have been fully in accordance with the principles of responsible +Government." + +In 1913 the growing prosperity of the fish trade was still further +increased by the passing of the new United States tariff law, which +admitted fish to the United States free of duty. Further, the opening +of the Panama Canal made possible the establishment of new markets. + +Now we come to the next momentous event in the history of modern +Newfoundland, as it is in that of the modern world generally--namely, +the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914. The colony, like all the +other British dominions and possessions, was fully alive to the +justice of the British cause, and, like the others, was resolved as a +faithful and dutiful daughter to contribute to the military, naval, +and material resources of the Mother Country. This manifestation of +colonial association and unity was a remarkable feature throughout the +war, and will ever be memorable as a token of the undying bonds that +unite the scattered constituents of the British Empire, and of the +common feelings and ideals that inspire the various sections of the +British family. Despite doubt and solicitude as to the effect on +trade, especially on the fish markets, on which Newfoundland is so +much dependent, the colony devoted itself wholeheartedly to the +prosecution of the war. + +In September 1914 a special war session of the Legislature was held, +and several measures were passed, making provision for the raising of +a volunteer force of 1,000 men, for increasing the number of Naval +Reserve from 600 to 1,000 men, and for raising a loan (which was +subsequently furnished by the Imperial Government) for equipping and +maintaining the projected contingents. It may be pointed out here that +about the end of the nineteenth century the colony, desiring to +participate in the obligations--and indeed privileges--of Imperial +defence, took steps to establish a Royal Naval Reserve. From 1900 a +number of men volunteered as reservists, and entered for six months' +training on one of the vessels of the North American and West Indian +squadron. In 1902 a training ship, H.M.S. _Calypso_, was stationed in +St. John's harbour, where the 600 men--the number proposed--might +duly complete their training. Before the war the Naval Reserve +establishment amounted to 580. There were besides local Boys' +Brigades, but no military force whatever. + +In 1915 considerable efforts were made. By the end of the year a +military contingent of 2,000 men was raised, and the Naval Reserve was +enlarged to 1,200. In November a plebiscite was taken in regard to the +question of total prohibition, and a majority decided in its favour; +so that from January 1st, 1917, the manufacture, importation, and sale +of intoxicating liquors were prohibited. + +In 1916 a battalion of the Newfoundland regiment took part in a good +deal of severe fighting in France; and it was maintained to full +strength by regular drafts from home. + +In the meantime an Act was passed imposing restrictions on the killing +of seals in Newfoundland waters, the object being to prevent their +extermination. + +A political question that especially engaged the attention of the +colony at this time was its relation to the Canadian Federation, but +no progress was made towards the solution of the long standing +problem. The following year it became again the chief concern (apart +from the war) of the island's electorate. In June the question was +raised in the Federal House of Commons at Ottawa; and members spoke in +favour of union, declaring that from information received it appeared +that the disposition of Newfoundland was becoming more and more in +favour of it.[53] In July a coalition Ministry was established, and a +Bill was passed prolonging the life of the Parliament for twelve +months, as it would normally have expired in October. In the early +part of this year, Sir Edward Morris, the Premier, was in London and +represented Newfoundland at the Imperial War Conference. + +During the last year of the war the population found itself much more +affected by the world conflict than it had been in the preceding +years. Additions to the Newfoundland contingent under the voluntary +system were becoming inadequate: accordingly, the new Government, of +which Mr W.F. Lloyd was Premier, decided to introduce a Bill for the +purpose of establishing conscription. This was of a selective +character, that is, applying to all unmarried men and widowers without +children, between the ages of 19 and 39. The conscripts were to be +divided into four classes according to age, the youngest being called +up first. The Bill was passed, and the measure proved to be a +successful one. + +After the conclusion of the Armistice in November, the Prime Minister, +the Right Hon. Sir William F. Lloyd, K.C.M.G., acted as the +representative of Newfoundland at the Paris Peace Conference (1919). + +In concluding this chapter it will be of interest to give a few facts +and figures showing Newfoundland's effort and record in the war.[54] + + +(1) PERSONNEL + +At the outbreak of war there was no military force in Newfoundland. +There was, however, a pre-war establishment of 580 Naval Reservists +besides local Boys' Brigades. + +Newfoundland contributed to the fighting forces of the Empire 11,922 +all ranks, consisting of 9,326 men for the Army, 2,053 men for the +Royal Naval Reserve, 500 men for the Newfoundland Forestry Corps, and +43 nurses. + +The Royal Newfoundland Regiment furnished a battalion for the +Gallipoli campaign and sent 4,253 men to France and Belgium, suffering +the following casualties: + +Killed in action and died of wounds 1,082 +Died from other causes 95 +Missing 18 +Prisoners of War 152 +Wounded 2,314 + ----- +Total 3,661 + +The following decorations were won by the Regiment: + +1 V.C., 2 C.M.G., 4 D.S.O., 28 M.C., 6 Bars to M.C., 33 D.C.M., 1 Bar +to D.C.M., 105 M.M., 8 Bars to M.M., 1 O.B.E., 22 Mentions in +Despatches, 21 Allied Decorations, 3 other medals: Total, 234. + +In the Royal Naval Reserve 167 men were killed in action and 124 +invalided out of the Service. + +3,000 Newfoundlanders enlisted in the Canadian and other forces +(outside Newfoundland), but there is no statistical record of +casualties regarding them, although it is known they were heavy. + + +(2) MONEY, ETC. + +Total receipts, Cot Fund[55] $129,200 + " " Aeroplane Fund 53,487 + " " Red Cross Fund 151,500 + " " Patriotic Fund 166,687 + +A War Loan of $6,000,000 was raised by Newfoundland. + +A large quantity of Red Cross material, etc., was sent from the +Dominion during the war to the various organizations overseas, in +addition to many thousands of dollars worth of comforts for the +troops. + +Newfoundland provided the pay and allowances of the Royal Newfoundland +Regiment (6,326 all ranks) and made up the difference in pay to bring +the Royal (Newfoundland) Naval Reserve to the same scale as that of +the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, besides equipping the Royal +Newfoundland Regiment before proceeding overseas. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[51] See a letter from the able correspondent of _The Times_ in +Newfoundland, November 6th, 1900. + +[52] P.T. M'Grath, "Newfoundland in 1911," p. 24. + +[53] This question has already been referred to several times in the +preceding pages (see especially beginning of chap. viii). It may be +added here that in March 1906, the Prime Minister of Canada stated +that the Government of Newfoundland was fully aware that the +Government of Canada was ready to entertain a proposal for the entry +of the island into the confederation. + +[54] For the statement following the writer is indebted to Sir Edgar +Bowring, the High Commissioner of Newfoundland. + +[55] Instead of maintaining a hospital overseas, Newfoundland +supported 301 beds in addition to 32 in Newfoundland. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE FRENCH SHORE QUESTION + + +It has been impossible in the above pages to avoid reference to the +Anglo-French disputes in Newfoundland, but it seemed convenient to +postpone a detailed examination of the question to a separate chapter. +No apology is necessary for such a chapter even in a work so slight as +the present, for the French Shore question was chronically acute in +Newfoundland, and the French claims, like George III.'s prerogative, +were increasing, had increased, and ought to have been diminished. The +dispute is partly historical, partly legal, and can only be explained +by reference to documents of considerable age. + +The French connection with Newfoundland was encouraged by the nearness +of Canada, and in quaint names, such as Bay Fâcheuse and Point +Enragée, it has bequeathed lasting reminders. For centuries the +French, like the Dutch, went on giving too little and asking too much. +By the time of Louis XIV. they had in fact established themselves--an +_imperium in imperio_--upon the south coast, and William of Orange in +the declaration of war against his lifelong enemy recited the English +grievances: + +"It was not long since the French took licences from the Governor of +Newfoundland to fish upon that coast, and paid a tribute for such +licences as an acknowledgment of the sole right of the Crown of +England to that island; but of late the encroachments of the French, +and His Majesty's subjects trading and fishing there, had been more +like the invasion of an enemy than becoming friends who enjoyed the +advantages of that trade only by permission." + +The Treaty of Ryswick, in 1697, contained no mention of Newfoundland, +and the French were, therefore, left in enjoyment of their possessory +claims. In 1710 the splendid genius of Marlborough had brought Louis +XIV. to his knees, and the arguments supplied by the stricken fields +of Blenheim and Ramillies, Oudenarde and Malplaquet, should have made +easy the task of English diplomacy. But from a corrupt political soil +sprang the Treaty of Utrecht, the first leading instrument in the +controversy of which we are attempting to collect the threads. The +merits of the dispute cannot be understood without a careful study of +Article 13 of the Treaty. It was thereby provided that: + +"The island called Newfoundland, with the adjacent islands, shall from +this time forward belong of right wholly to Britain, and to that end +the town and fortress of Placentia, and whatever other places in the +said island are in possession of the French, shall be yielded and +given up within seven months from the exchange of the ratifications of +this Treaty, or sooner if possible, by the most Christian King to +those who have a commission from the Queen of Great Britain for that +purpose. Nor shall the most Christian King, his heirs and successors, +or any of their subjects, at any time hereafter lay claim to any right +to the said island and islands, or to any part of it or them. Moreover +it shall not be lawful for the subjects of France to fortify any place +in the said island of Newfoundland, or to erect any building there, +besides stages made of boards, and huts necessary and useful for +drying of fish, or to resort to the said island beyond the time +necessary for fishing and drying of fish. But it shall be allowed to +the subjects of France to catch fish and to dry them on land in that +part only, and in no other besides that, of the said island of +Newfoundland, which stretches from the place called Cape Bonavista to +the northern point of the said island, and from thence, running down +by the western side, reaches as far as the place called Point Riche. +But the island called Cape Breta, as also all others, both in the +mouth of the River St. Lawrence and in the Gulf of the same name, +shall hereafter belong of right to the French, and the most Christian +King shall have all manner of liberty to fortify any place or places +there." + +The Treaty of Paris, in 1763, confirmed this arrangement, and twenty +years later the Treaty of Versailles contained the following provision +upon the subject: + +"The XIIIth Article of the Treaty of Utrecht and the method of +carrying on the fishery, which has at all times been acknowledged, +shall be the plan upon which the fishery shall be carried on there; it +shall not be deviated from by either party; the French fishermen +building only their scaffolds, confining themselves to the repair of +their fishing vessels, and not wintering there; the subjects of His +Majesty Britannic on their part not molesting in any manner the French +fishermen during their fishing, nor injuring their scaffolds during +their absence." But for the boundaries prescribed by the Treaty of +Utrecht (viz. those limited by Cape Bonavista and Point Riche) new +boundaries were substituted, viz., those limited by Cape St. John +round by the north to Cape Ray. The coast thus indicated came to be +known as the "French shore." + +As the declaration annexed to the above treaty was often relied upon +by French diplomatists, it may be conveniently set forth in this +place: + +"... In order that the fishermen of the two nations may not give a +cause of daily quarrels, His Britannic Majesty will take the most +positive measures for preventing his subjects from interrupting in any +manner by their competition the fishery of the French during the +temporary exercise of it which is granted to them.... His Majesty will +... for this purpose cause the fixed settlement which shall be found +there to be removed, and will give orders that the French fishermen +shall not be incommoded in the cutting of wood necessary for the +repair of their scaffolds, huts, and fishing boats." + +The title of an Act of Parliament passed in 1782 in pursuance of this +treaty was also pressed into the service of the French contention: + +"An Act to enable His Majesty to make such regulations as may be +necessary to prevent the inconvenience which might arise from the +competition of His Majesty's subjects and those of the most Christian +King in carrying on the fishery on the coasts of the island of +Newfoundland." + +No material alteration in the position took place from 1782 to 1792, +and the Treaty of Peace of 1814 declared that "the French right of +fishery at Newfoundland is replaced upon the footing upon which it +stood in 1792." + +On these documents a very simple issue arose. According to the English +contention their cumulative effect was to give the French a concurrent +right of fishery with themselves upon the coasts in question. It was +maintained, on the other hand, by France that her subjects enjoyed an +exclusive right of fishing along the so-called French shore. + +It may be said at once that the course of English diplomacy was almost +uniformly weak, and was in fact such as to lend no small countenance +to the French contention. Thus, for many years it was the policy of +the Home Government to discourage the colonists from exercising the +right which was always alleged in theory to be concurrent. Nor did the +Imperial complaisance end here. The French fishermen and their +protectors from time to time put forward pretensions only to be +justified by a revival of the sovereignty which was extinguished by +the Treaty of Utrecht. Thus, they attempted systematically to prevent +any English settlement at all upon the debatable shore. For +residential, mining and agricultural purposes this strip would thus be +withdrawn from colonial occupation. It is much to be regretted that +these claims were not summarily repudiated. The Imperial Government, +however, encouraged them by forbidding any grants of land along the +area in dispute. Under these circumstances the theoretical assertion +of British sovereignty by which the prohibition was qualified was not +likely to be specially impressive. The islanders acquiesced in the +decision with stolid patience, but, undeterred by the consequent +insecurity of tenure, settled as squatters in the unappropriated +lands. As recently as forty years ago their title was still +unrecognized, and the presence of thousands of settlers with +indeterminate claims had become a dangerous grievance. In 1881 Sir +William Whiteway, then Premier of the colony, paid a visit to England, +and his powerful advocacy procured recognition for the title of the +settlers to their lands, and brought them within the pale of the +Queen's law. + +The French shore cod fishery was recently so poor compared with the +Great Bank fishery that French fishermen abandoned the former for the +latter; and, in fact, but for a recent development of the French +claim, it would have been possible to say of the whole question +_solvitur ambulando_. + +The development referred to sprang from the growing lobster industry +along the French shore. In 1874 and the following years lobster +factories were erected by British subjects on the French shore, in +positions where there was no French occupation and there were no +French buildings. Here there was no violation of the Treaty of Utrecht +provision, for the French were in no way restrained from "erecting +stages made of boards, and huts necessary and useful for drying of +fish," nor was there any violation of the declaration annexed to the +Treaty of Versailles, that "His Britannic Majesty will take the most +positive measures for preventing his subjects from interrupting in any +way by their competition the fishery of the French during the +temporary exercise of it which is granted them." The "fishing" which +was not to be interrupted by competition was the fishery "which is +granted to them," a limitation which throws us back at once upon the +language of the earlier treaties. Now it is indisputably clear that +the only fishing rights granted to the French were concerned with +codfish. The lobster industry was then unknown; and the language used, +and in particular "the stages and huts necessary and useful for drying +fish" spoken of, are applicable to codfish and not to lobsters, for +the canning industry was only of recent date, and lobsters, moreover, +are not dried. No fishery other than that of the codfish could then +have been contemplated. That this must have been abundantly clear is +apparent from the memoirs of M. de Torcy, one of the negotiators of +the treaty, who uses throughout the expression "morue" (codfish)--the +liberty stipulated was "pêcher et sécher les morues" (to fish and dry +codfish). The French, however, not content with objecting to the +presence of English factories, erected factories of their own, +comprehending them, it must be presumed, within the description "huts +necessary and useful for the drying of fish." They contended, +furthermore, that their rights were a part of the ancient French +sovereignty retained when the soil was ceded to England. Such a claim +was inadmissible on any view of the treaties. In fact, there was much +to be said for the view that no _exclusive_ right of fishery of any +sort was ever given to the French, in spite of the language of the +celebrated Declaration. As Lord Palmerston wrote, some eighty years +ago, to Count Sebastiani, in his unambiguous way: "I will observe to +your Excellency, in conclusion, that if the right conceded to the +French by the Declaration of 1783 had been intended to be exclusive +within the prescribed district, the terms used for defining such right +would assuredly have been more ample and specific than they are found +to be in that document; for in no other similar instrument which has +ever come under the knowledge of the British Government is so +important a concession as an exclusive privilege of this description +accorded in terms so loose and indefinitive. Exclusive rights are +privileges which from the very nature of things are likely to be +injurious to parties who are thereby debarred from some exercise of +industry in which they would otherwise engage. Such rights are, +therefore, certain at some time or other to be disputed, if there is +any maintainable ground for contesting them; and for these reasons, +when negotiators have intended to grant exclusive grants, it has been +their invariable practice to convey such rights in direct, +unqualified, and comprehensive terms, so as to prevent the possibility +of future dispute or doubt. In the present case, however, such forms +of expression are entirely wanting, and the claim put forward on the +part of France is founded simply upon inference and upon an assumed +interpretation of words." + +It was, in fact, as Lord Palmerston argued, a perfectly open +contention that on the authorities no exclusive right was ever given +to the French, but the demeanour of this country had been such as to +render the position difficult and unconvincing. We are, however, upon +much firmer ground when we come to close quarters with the French +claims to rights of lobster fishing. The claim was first clearly +advanced in 1888, that none but Frenchmen were entitled to catch +lobsters and erect preserving factories upon the French shore. This at +once elicited an incisive English remonstrance, in deference to which +French diplomacy had recourse to the evasion that the factories were +merely temporary. They were not, however, removed, and finally in 1889 +further remonstrances by Lord Salisbury were met with the bold +contention that these factories were comprehended within the language +of the treaties. The English Government met this _volte face_ with a +feeble proposal to resort to arbitration--a proposal which the +islanders declined with equal propriety and spirit. The consequent +position was vividly and faithfully stated by Sir Charles Dilke, in a +passage which may be quoted in full: + +"Instead of protecting British fishermen in the prosecution of their +lawful avocation, and resisting the new claim of the French, our +Government, after failing to enforce the claim of the French, tried to +go to arbitration upon it before a Court in which the best known +personage was to have been M. de Martens, the hereditary librarian of +the Russian Foreign Office, whose opinion on such points was hardly +likely to be impartial. Luckily, the French added a condition, the +enormity of which was such that the arbitration has never taken place, +and it may be hoped now never will. + +"While British officers were backed up by the Government in most +arbitrary action on behalf of the French and against the colonists, +the theory continued to be that the French pretensions were disputed +by us. At the end of 1889 the Home Government sent for the Prime +Minister of Newfoundland, who came to England in 1890. A _modus +vivendi_ was agreed to preserving such British lobster factories as +existed, and the French Government agreeing that they would undertake +to grant no new lobster-fishing concessions 'on fishing grounds +occupied by British subjects,' whatever that might mean. But the +limitation was afterwards explained away, and the _modus vivendi_ +stated to mean the _status quo_. The Colonial Government strongly +protested against the _modus vivendi_, as a virtual admission of a +concurrent right of lobster fishing prejudicial to the position of +Newfoundland in future negotiation; and there can be no doubt that the +adoption of the _modus vivendi_ by the British Government without +previous reference to the colony, and against its wish, was a +violation of the principle laid down by the then Mr Labouchere, when +Secretary of State in 1857, and by Lord Palmerston. Our Government +deny this, because they expressly reserved all questions of principle +and right in the agreement with the French, and that is so, of course; +but there can be no doubt about the effect of what they did. + +"By an answer given by an Under-Secretary of State in the House of +Commons, the views of the Newfoundland Government were misrepresented, +it being stated that they 'were consulted as to the terms of the +_modus vivendi_, which was modified to some extent to meet their +views, although concluded without reference to them in its final +shape'; but the Newfoundland Government insisted that the terms of the +_modus vivendi_ had not been modified in accordance with their views, +as they had protested against the whole arrangement. The Home +Government quibbled and said that the answer showed that the +Newfoundland Government were not responsible for the _modus vivendi_ +as settled. Plain people, however, must continue to be as indignant as +the colonists are at the misrepresentation and the breach of Mr +Labouchere's principle. + +"The terms of the _modus vivendi_ accord to unfounded pretensions the +standing of reasonable claims, and confer upon the French the actual +possession and enjoyment of the rights to which these claims relate. +Mr Baird refused to comply with the _modus vivendi_. Sir Baldwin +Walker, commanding on the coast, landed a party of blue-jackets in +1891, and took the law into his own hands against Mr Baird, was sued +for damages, and twice lost his case.[56] There had existed an +Imperial Act under which Sir Baldwin Walker might have been protected, +but it had been repealed when self-government was granted to +Newfoundland. In the same year of 1891 a Newfoundland Act was passed, +under heavy pressure from the Home Government, compelling colonial +subjects to observe the instructions of the naval officers to the +extent of at once quitting the French shore if directed, and the Act +was to be in force till the end of 1893. The Home Government had +passed a Bill through the House of Commons, and dropped it, before it +received the Royal assent, only after the Prime Minister of +Newfoundland had been heard at the bar of both Houses and had promised +colonial legislation. The French Government have insisted that a +British Act should be passed; and Lord Salisbury, while declaring that +there ought to be a permanent Colonial Act, has always refused to +promise a British Act. To my mind, the Newfoundland people went too +far in giving up their freedom by passing the Act which I have named, +an Act to which, had I been a member of the Newfoundland Legislature, +nothing would have induced me to consent; and my sympathies are +entirely with the Newfoundlanders in their refusal to part with their +freedom, for all time, by making so monstrous a statute permanent." + +The _modus vivendi_ treaty was periodically renewed by the Colonial +Legislature with a submissiveness which would have seemed excessive if +they had not been pressed with the shibboleth of Imperial interest. At +the same time, signs of restiveness were not wanting. The complaints +of the Newfoundlanders became more frequent, more insistent, and more +emphatic. They pointed out that the French virtually claimed a +monopoly of an 800-mile shore, which was entirely British of right, +that in consequence they interfered with the development of the mining +industry, and the extension of railways, and that thereby they were +seriously hampering the progress of the colony. The case put forward +by the colonists was historically strong, and there was much to be +said for the contention that they were entitled to everything they +claimed: on any view they could rightly complain of a cruel injustice, +so long as the indolence or incompetence of English diplomacy suffered +a debatable land to survive in the teeth of an undebatable argument. + +In August, 1898, at the request of the Newfoundland Government, a +Royal Commission was appointed by Mr Chamberlain, and sent out the +following year, for the purpose of inquiring into the whole question +of French treaty rights. A good deal of evidence was given by local +colonists of acts of French aggression, and of consequent injury in +person and property. But the report remained unpublished. Such +aggression was in keeping with the instructions issued in 1895 by the +French Premier and Foreign Minister to the commanders of the French +warships on this station: "To seize and confiscate all instruments of +fishing belonging to foreigners, resident or otherwise, who shall fish +on that part of the coast which is reserved for our use"--instructions +that amounted to an arbitrary assertion of territorial sovereignty. +And yet the actual interests of France were very meagre: thus in 1898, +on a coastline where some 20,000 Newfoundlanders were settled in 215 +harbours, there were only 16 French stations and 458 men on the +800-mile shore; in 1903 only 13 stations and 402 men.[57] + +In 1901 when the vexed question came once again before the +Newfoundland Legislature, the Government declared that in renewing the +_modus vivendi_ for the following year, they did so only in +consideration of the obstacles then in the way of the Imperial +Government to securing a satisfactory settlement of the whole matter. + +In 1904 the Newfoundland Government refused to relax the Bait Law any +more; and France then consented to enter into the notable agreement, +which once for all abolished the inveterate grievances and +difficulties arising out of the "French shore" question. In +consideration of certain territorial privileges in West Africa, France +agreed to relinquish her rights as to landing and drying fish on the +treaty shore, which had been recognized by the Treaty of Utrecht. +French subjects injured by this arrangement were to receive such +compensation from Great Britain as would be awarded by a tribunal +consisting of one representative of each contracting party, assisted +by an umpire if necessary. The French were to enjoy the same rights as +British subjects of fishing on the coast generally, and were permitted +to take bait, which they had been forbidden to do by the Newfoundland +Act of 1886. This convention did not affect the applicability of local +law as to bait in regard to the non-treaty coast. + +Newfoundland was satisfied with this change. After the ratification of +the agreement, the new Governor, Sir William MacGregor, telegraphed to +Mr Lyttelton, the Minister for the Colonies, asking him to convey to +the King the people's acknowledgment of the "great boon" conferred by +the Convention, which His Majesty was chiefly instrumental in +initiating, and to the British Government for having safeguarded the +interests of the colony in negotiations involving so many +difficulties. That this view represented that of the population at +large was shown by the return to office (October) of Sir Robert Bond +and his colleagues with a very strong majority. + +Soon afterwards an _entente cordiale_ was established between +Newfoundland and the French colony of St. Pierre and Miquelon. + +Thus, "the Anglo-French chapter--some four centuries long--closed; and +the lobster, which darkened its closing paragraphs, ceased to be a +force in history."[58] + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[56] [See _Baird_ v. _Walker_, Law Reports, 1891, Appeal Cases, p. +491.] + +[57] M'Grath, _op. cit._, p. 149. + +[58] Rogers, _op. cit._, p. 225. + + + + +INDEX + + +Abandonment Suggested, 85, 106 + +Admirals, Fishing, 70, 71, 84, 85, 86, 98, 99 + +Amiens, Peace of, 102 + +American Independence, War of, 95 + +American prohibition of trade, 91 + +American Rebellion, 90 + +Area of Newfoundland, 8 + + +Bacon, Sir Francis, 15, 66, 96 + +Baird, Mr, 182, 183 + +Bait Law, 185 + +Baltimore, Lord, 64, 70, 89 + +Banks Disaster, 135-142 + +Bannerman, Governor, 120 + +Basque Pioneers, 26, 47 + +Bathurst, Lord, 107 + +Beauclerk, Lord Vere, 85 + +Beazley, Mr Raymond, 30, 32, 35 + +Blaine, J.G., 128 + +Blaine-Bond incident, 128 + +Board of Trade, The, 78 + +Boeothics, 17, 102 + +Bonavista, Cape, 35 + +Bond, Sir Robert, 128, 162, 163, 186 + +Bond-Morris, Coalition, 155, 162 + +Bonfoy, Governor, 90 + +Bonnycastle, Sir Richard, 8, 19, 75 + +Boulton, Chief Justice, 110 + +Boys' Brigades, 166 + +Breton, Cape, Attack on, 87 + +Bristol, 30, 36, 67, 71 + +British indifference, 46, 76, 81, 84, 88, 91, 95, 176, 180, 182 + +Buchan, Captain, 105 + +Burleigh, Lord, 53 + +Burrill's Attack, 82 + +Bute, Lord, 88 + + +Cables, Transatlantic, 7, 120 + +Cabot, John, 26-32, 35-6, 42-3 + +Cabot, Sebastian, 17, 28, 30, 39, 40, 43 + +_Calypso_, H.M.S., 165 + +Canada, 126, 129 + +Canada, Proposed Union with, 126, 135, 138, 162, 163, 166 + +Canadian Sympathy, 115, 134 + +Carbonier, 83 + +Carson, Dr William, 104, 107, 109 + +Cartier, 18, 50 + +Casualties in Great War, 168 + +Chamberlain, Mr, 144-154 + +Charles, I., 74, 75, 81 + +Charles II., 81 + +Cinderella of colonial history, 75 + +Climate, 9, 57 + +Coalition Ministry, 167 + +Cochrane, Governor, 107, 108, 123 + +Colonization, 45 + +Colville, Admiral Lord, 87 + +Columbus, Christopher, 26, 27, 41 + +Commercial Bank, 135 + +Commissioners of Foreign Plantations, 74 + +Committee of Trade and Plantations, 77 + +"Company of Adventurers and Planters," 67 + +Conscription, 167 + +Cook, Captain, Survey of, 89 + +Copper, 12 + +Cortereal, Gaspar, 47 + +Council, Governing, 107 + +Court of Civil Jurisdiction, 98 + +Courts of Session, 98 + +Crewe, Lord, 164 + +Customs, survival of, 79 + + +Decorations won in Great War, 169 + +d'Haussonville, Count, 87 + +de Martens, M., 181 + +Dilke, Sir Charles, 180 + +di Raimondi, Raimondo, 31, 35, 43 + +Discovery, the age of, 22 + +Dorrell, Governor, 89 + +Drake, Sir Barnard, 65 + +Duckworth, Governor, Sir Thomas, 103, 104 + + +Economic position, 20, 92, 122, 137 + +Edward VII., 186 + +Elizabeth, Queen, 54 + +Ericsson, Leif, 25 + +European War, (1914-19), 164-170 + +Exploits River, 11 + + +Falkland, Lord, 70 + +Famine, 105 + +Financial crisis, 135 + +Fires at St John's, 106, 115, 134 + +Fishing industry, 8, 13, 37, 40, 45, 48, 52, 60, 86, 92, 136, 164-5, 173 + +Fishing regulations, 67, 74 + +Fisheries Commission, 1890, 15 + +Fisheries, Department of Marine and, 16 + +Foreign fishing vessels Act, 129 + +Foreign traders, duty on, 81 + +France, conflict with, 82, 83, 87 + +France, fishing concessions to, 67, 84, 175, 179 + +French aggression, 23, 81, 82, 96, 172, 185 + +French, agreement with, 185 + +French and fishing industry, 47, 84, 88, 105, 172-3 + +French claims, 171, 178, 184 + +French colonization, 64 + +French fishing interests, 98, 102 + +French settlement, 81 + +French shore question, 171, 186 + +French surrender, 87 + +French voyagers, 50 + + +Gallipoli, 168 + +Gambier, Governor, 102 + +Gibbs, Mr, 158 + +Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, voyage of, 53-63 + +Goodridge, Mr, 140 + +Governor, first, 85 + +Gower, Governor, 103 + +Grand Falls, 12 + +Grand Newfoundland Bank, 14 + +Graves, Admiral Lord, 87, 89 + +Greene, Mr, 140 + +Grenville, Sir Richard, 53 + +Grey, Earl, 117 + +Guy, John, 67 + + +Hague Arbitration, 16, 129 + +Hakluyt, Richard, 51, 53 + +Harmsworth, Messrs, 161 + +Harvey, Governor, 115 + +Hay-Bond Treaty, 129 + +Hayes, Captain Edward, 9, 55, 57-62 + +Hayman's, Robert, verses, 72 + +Henry VII., 24, 29, 42, 43 + +Henry VIII., 24, 48, 50 + +Hill, Governor, 131 + +Historians, 8 + +Hobart, Lord, 102 + +Hore's voyage, 51 + +Hospital, first, 103 + +House of Assembly, 109, 112 + +Hoyles, Mr, 121 + + +Imperial War Conference, 167 + +Imports and exports, 20 + +Industries, development of, 124, 160, 161, 184 + +Iron mines, 161 + + +James I., 66 + +Justices of the Peace, 85, 86, 90 + +Justice, Administration of, 77, 90, 98 + + +Keats, Governor, 104 + +Kent, John, 111, 120 + +Kielly, Dr, 111 + +King, Governor, 100 + +Kirke, Sir David, 74 + + +Labouchere, Mr H., 181 + +Labrador, 9, 35, 47, 89 + +Lakes, 11 + +La Salle, 64 + +_Latona_, H.M.S., mutiny on, 100 + +Laws, first, 56 + +Leake, Admiral Sir John, Attack by, 83 + +Lecky, W.E.H., 96 + +Legislative Council, 110 + +Legislative power, establishment of, 102 + +Lilly, Mr Justin, 111 + +Lloyd, Sir Wm. F., 167-8 + +Lobster fishery, 177, 180 + +Lyttelton, Hon. Alfred, 186 + + +M'Callum, Governor, 158 + +MacGregor, Sir William, 163, 186 + +Mansion House Fund, 135 + +Markland, 25 + +Mason, Captain John, 68, 72 + +_Matthew_, The, 30 + +May March, 19 + +_Mayflower_, The, 64 + +Merchants, 23, 69, 76, 80, 86, 99, 105, 106, 108 + +Milbanke, Governor, 98 + +Mineral resources, 8, 12, 161 + +Montague, Governor, 92 + +Morine, Mr, 157-8, 162 + +Morison, Mr, 162 + +Morris, Sir Edward, 162, 163, 167 + +Murray, Governor Sir Herbert, 144, 149 + +Musgrave, Governor, 126 + + +Native inhabitants, 17, 19 + +Native races, 16 + +Natural features, 8, 11, 57, 58 + +Naval Reserve, 165, 168, 170 + +Newfoundland Act, the, 183 + +Newfoundland forestry corps, 168 + +Newspaper, the first, 103 + +Norse explorers, 25 + +Nova Scotia, 85, 106 + + +O'Brien, Sir Terence, 135 + +O'Donnell, Bishop, 102, 122 + +Osborne, Captain Henry, 85 + +Ougier, Peter, 108 + +Oyer and Terminer, Commissioners of, 86 + + +Pakington, Sir John, 117 + +Palmerston, Lord, 178, 182 + +Palliser, Governor, 88 + +Palliser's Act, 92 + +Panama Canal, 164 + +Paper Industry, 161 + +Paris, Treaty of, 87, 104, 174 + +Parke, Chief Baron, 112 + +Parkhurst, Anthony, 52 + +Pasqualigo, Lorenzo, 31 + +Pedley, Rev. C., 83, 89, 101 + +Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, 32, 39, 42 + +Pickmore, Governor, 105-7 + +Pitt, William (Lord Chatham), 87, 88, 97 + +Placentia, Attack on, 83 + +Plantations, 18, 66, 74, 77, 79, 95, 96 + +Planters, 18, 68, 76, 77 + +Poor Relief, 102, 123, 124, 131, 139 + +Population, 20, 77, 91, 93, 94, 102, 126, 132, 137 + +Popham, Sir John, 67 + +Portuguese, 24, 47, 52, 54 + +Post Office, 103 + +Prescott, Governor, 115 + +Prohibition, 166 + +Prowse, Chief Justice, 8, 30, 35, 109, 126 + + +Railways, 21, 124, 131, 132, 133, 159, 184. + (See also Reid Contract and Reid Newfoundland Company) + +Raleigh, Sir Walter, 22, 53, 63, 65 + +Ramusio, 32, 39, 40, 42 + +Reeves, Chief Justice, 99 + +Reed, Albert, Company, 161 + +Reid Contract, 133, 143-159 + +Reid Newfoundland Company, 159-161 + +Religion and religious differences, 20, 70, 89, 102, 112, 121 + +Rent, first levied, 75 + +Revenue and expenditure, 20 + +Rivers, 11 + +Roads, first, 107 + +Roberval, 50 + +Rocky River, 12 + +Rodney, Governor, 86 + +Rogers, J.D., 8, 13, 66 + +Royal Commission, 184 + +Royal Newfoundland Regiment, 100, 102 + +"Royal Gazette," The, 103 + +Rut, John, 50 + +Ryswick, Treaty of, 82, 172 + + +Salisbury, Marquis of, 180, 183 + +Savings Bank, 135 + +Seal Fisheries, 115, 166 + +Sebastiani, Count, 179 + +Self-Government demanded, 104, 107, 116 + +Settlers, 74, 77, 78, 102, 177 + +Shanandithit, 19 + +Shipping, 21 + +Smith, Adam, 95 + +Sothern, Captain, 100 + +Southampton, Mayor of, 78 + +Spain and Spaniards, 24, 29, 36, 45, 52, 54, 65 + +_Squirrel_, The, 54, 63 + +St George's Bay, 131 + +St John's, 7, 55, 83, 87, 103, 106, 116, 121, 134 + +St John's, Capture by French, 83 + +St John's, Surrender to French, 87 + +Stamp Act, 91 + +Star Chamber, 70, 74, 76, 77 + +Storm at St John's, 116 + + +Taxation, 91, 97 + +Telegraphs, 7, 21, 120 + +Thirkill, 43 + + +Unemployment Problem, 124, 138 + +Union Bank, 135 + +United States, 128, 130, 164 + +United States, Fishing Industry, 105 + +Utrecht, Treaty of, 83, 102, 172, 174, 176 + + +Vaughan, Sir William, 69, 75 + +Verrazzano, 50 + +Versailles, Treaty of, 97, 177 + +Vesmond, Chevalier, 82 + +Vikings, 25 + +Volunteer Force, 165 + + +Waldegrave, Governor, 100, 102, 123 + +Walker, Sir Baldwin, 182 + +Wallace, Governor Sir Richard, 100 + +Walsingham, 65 + +War Loan, 169 + +West Country merchants, 76 + +West Country, sailors of, 30, 38, 65, 67 + +Weymouth, Mayor of, 78 + +Whitbourne, Sir Richard, 10, 18, 69, 71 + +Whiteway, Sir W., 139, 141, 177 + +William III., 82, 171 + +Willoughby, Sir Hugh, 17 + +Winter, Sir James, 143, 155, 158 + +Wireless Telegraphy, 7 + +Wolfe, General, 87 + + + + * * * * * + + + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 114: 'dissolve the Legislation.' replaced with | + | 'dissolve the Legislature.' | + | Page 143: incalulably replaced with incalculably | + | Page 147: inepitude replaced with ineptitude | + | Page 149: signficance replaced with significance | + | Page 190: Masou replaced with Mason | + | | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF NEWFOUNDLAND*** + + +******* This file should be named 18636-8.txt or 18636-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/3/18636 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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+ margin-bottom: 0em; + border: solid black; + height: 5px; } + pre {font-size: 75%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Story of Newfoundland, by Frederick Edwin +Smith, Earl of Birkenhead</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Story of Newfoundland</p> +<p>Author: Frederick Edwin Smith, Earl of Birkenhead</p> +<p>Release Date: June 20, 2006 [eBook #18636]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF NEWFOUNDLAND***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3 class="pg">E-text prepared by a www.PGDP.net volunteer, Jeannie Howse,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net/">http://www.pgdp.net/</a>)<br /> + from page images generously made available by<br /> + Our Roots<br /> + (<a href="http://www.nosracines.ca/e/index.aspx">http://www.nosracines.ca/e/index.aspx</a>)</h3> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" cellpadding="10" style="background-color: #ccccff;"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through Our Roots. See + <a href="http://www.nosracines.ca/e/toc.aspx?id=1319"> + http://www.nosracines.ca/e/toc.aspx?id=1319</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen" style="font-weight: bold;">Transcriber's Note:</p> +<br /> +<p class="noin">Spelling and hyphenation inconsistencies from the original +document have been preserved.</p> +<p class="noin">A number of obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this text.<br /> +For a complete list, please see the <a href="#TN">end of this document</a>.</p> +</div> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1>THE STORY OF<br /> +NEWFOUNDLAND</h1> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<h5>BY THE RIGHT HON. THE</h5> +<h2>LORD BIRKENHEAD</h2> +<h5>LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR OF GREAT BRITAIN<br /> +HONORARY FELLOW OF WADHAM AND MERTON COLLEGES, OXFORD</h5> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5>NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION</h5> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<h5>LONDON<br /> +HORACE MARSHALL & SON<br /> +TEMPLE HOUSE AND 125 FLEET STREET, E.C.<br /> +1920</h5> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5><i>Printed in Great Britain<br /> +by Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh</i></h5> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>PREFACE<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<p>Twenty-two years ago the enterprise of Horace Marshall & Son produced +a series of small books known as "The Story of the Empire Series." +These volumes rendered a great service in bringing home to the +citizens of the Empire in a simple and intelligible form their +community of interest, and the romantic history of the development of +the British Empire.</p> + +<p>I was asked more than twenty-one years ago to write the volume which +dealt with Newfoundland. I did so. The little book which was the +result has been for many years out of print. I have been asked by my +friends in Newfoundland and elsewhere to bring it up to date for the +purpose of a Second Edition. The publishers assented to this proposal, +and this volume is the result.</p> + +<p>The book, of course, never pretended to be anything but a slight +sketch. An attempt has been made—while errors have been corrected and +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>subject matter has been brought up to date—to maintain such +character as it ever possessed.</p> + +<p>I shall be well rewarded for any trouble I have taken if it is +recognized by my friends in Newfoundland that the reproduction of this +little book places on record an admiration for, and an interest in, +our oldest colony which has endured for considerably more than +twenty-one years.</p> + +<p class="right">BIRKENHEAD.</p> + +<p class="sc">House of Lords,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>May 1920.</i></span></p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="toc" id="toc"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CONTENTS<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="Table of Contents"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="10%"><span style="font-size: 80%;">CHAP.</span></td> + <td width="80%"> </td> + <td class="tdr" width="10%"><span style="font-size: 80%;">PAGE</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">I.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">The Land and its People</a></td> + <td class="tdr">7</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">II.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">The Age of Discovery</a></td> + <td class="tdr">22</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">III.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">Early History</a></td> + <td class="tdr">45</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">IV.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><span class="sc">Early History</span> (<i>continued</i>)</a></td> + <td class="tdr">64</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">V.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">The Struggle for Existence</a></td> + <td class="tdr">81</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">VI.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">The English Colonial System and its Results</a></td> + <td class="tdr">95</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">VII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">Self-Government</a></td> + <td class="tdr">114</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">VIII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">Modern Newfoundland</a></td> + <td class="tdr">126</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">IX.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">The Reid Contract—and After</a></td> + <td class="tdr">143</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">X.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">The French Shore Question</a></td> + <td class="tdr">171</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc" colspan="3">Maps—</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"> </td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#map1">Newfoundland and Labrador</a></td> + <td class="tdr">6</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"> </td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#map2">Newfoundland in Relation to Western Europe</a></td> + <td class="tdr">33</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc" colspan="2"><a href="#INDEX">Index</a></td> + <td class="tdr">188</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span><br /> + +<div class="img"><a name="map1" id="map1"></a> +<a href="images/mapp006.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/mapp006.jpg" width="46%" alt="NEWFOUNDLAND and LABRADOR" /></a> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span><br /> + +<h2>THE STORY OF NEWFOUNDLAND</h2> + +<h3>CHAPTER I<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>The island of Newfoundland, which is the tenth largest in the world, +is about 1640 miles distant from Ireland, and of all the American +coast is the nearest point to the Old World. Its relative position in +the northern hemisphere may well be indicated by saying that the most +northern point at Belle Isle Strait is in the same latitude as that of +Edinburgh, whilst St. John's, near the southern extremity, lies in the +same latitude as that of Paris. Strategically it forms the key to +British North America. St. John's lies about half-way between +Liverpool and New York, so that it offers a haven of refuge for needy +craft plying between England and the American metropolis. The adjacent +part of the coast is also the landing-place for most of the +Transatlantic cables: it was at St. John's, too, that the first +wireless ocean signals were received. From the sentimental point of +view Newfoundland is the oldest of the English colonies, for our brave +fishermen were familiar with its <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>banks at a time when Virginia and +New England were given over to solitude and the Redskin. Commercially +it is the centre of the most bountiful fishing industry in the world, +and the great potential wealth of its mines is now beyond question. On +all these grounds the story of the colony is one with which every +citizen of Greater Britain should be familiar. The historians of the +island have been capable and in the main judicious, and to the works +of Reeves, Bonnycastle, Pedley, Hatton, Harvey, and above all Chief +Justice Prowse, and more recently to J.D. Rogers,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> every writer on +Newfoundland must owe much. Of such elaborate work a writer in the +present series may say with Virgil's shepherd, "Non invideo, miror +magis"; for such a one is committed only to a sketch, made lighter by +their labours, of the chief stages in the story of Newfoundland.</p> + +<p>To understand that story a short account must be given at the outset +of the situation and character of the island. But for the +north-eastern side of the country, which is indented by deep and wide +inlets, its shape might be roughly described as that of an equilateral +triangle. Its area is nearly 43,000 square miles, so that it is larger +than Scotland and considerably greater than Ireland, the area of which +is 31,760 square miles. Compared to some of the smaller states of +Europe, it is found to be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>twice as large as Denmark, and three times +as large as Holland. There is only a mile difference between its +greatest length, which from Cape Ray, the south-west point, to Cape +Norman, the northern point, is 317 miles, and its greatest breadth, +from west to east, 316 miles from Cape Spear to Cape Anguille. Its +dependency, Labrador, an undefined strip of maritime territory, +extends from Cape Chidley, where the Hudson's Straits begin in the +north, to Blanc Sablon in the south, and includes the most easterly +point of the mainland. The boundaries between Quebec and Labrador have +been a matter of keen dispute. The inhabitants are for the most part +Eskimos, engaged in fishing and hunting. There are no towns, but there +are a few Moravian mission stations.</p> + +<p>The ruggedness of the coast of Newfoundland, and the occasional +inclemency of the climate in winter, led to unfavourable reports, +against which at least one early traveller raised his voice in +protest. Captain Hayes, who accompanied Gilbert to Newfoundland in +1583, wrote on his return:</p> + +<p>"The common opinion that is had of intemperation and extreme cold that +should be in this country, as of some part it may be verified, namely +the north, where I grant it is more colde than in countries of Europe, +which are under the same elevation; even so it cannot stand with +reason, and nature of the clime, that the south parts should be so +intemperate as the bruit has gone."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>Notwithstanding the chill seas in which it lies, Newfoundland is not +in fact a cold country. The Arctic current lowers the temperature of +the east coast, but the Gulf Stream, whilst producing fogs, moderates +the cold. The thermometer seldom or never sinks below zero in winter, +and in summer extreme heat is unknown. Nor is its northerly detachment +without compensation, for at times the <i>Aurora borealis</i> illumines the +sky with a brilliancy unknown further south. A misconception appears +to prevail that the island is in summer wrapped in fog, and its shores +in winter engirt by ice. In the interior the climate is very much like +that of Canada, but is not so severe as that of western Canada or even +of Ontario and Quebec. The sky is bright and the weather clear, and +the salubrity is shown by the healthy appearance of the population.</p> + +<p>The natural advantages of the country are very great, though for +centuries many of them were strangely overlooked. Whitbourne, it is +true, wrote with quaint enthusiasm, in the early sixteenth century: "I +am loth to weary thee (good reader) in acquainting thee thus to those +famous, faire, and profitable rivers, and likewise to those delightful +large and inestimable woods, and also with those fruitful and enticing +lulls and delightful vallies." In fact, in the interior the valleys +are almost as numerous as Whitbourne's adjectives, and their fertility +promises a great future for agriculture when the railway has done its +work.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>The rivers, though "famous, faire, and profitable," are not +overpoweringly majestic. The largest are the Exploits River, 200 miles +long and navigable for some 30 miles, and the Gander, 100 miles long, +which—owing to the contour of the island—flows to the eastern bays. +The deficiency, however, if it amounts to one, is little felt, for +Newfoundland excels other lands in the splendour of its bays, which +not uncommonly pierce the land as far as sixty miles. The length of +the coast-line has been calculated at about 6000 miles—one of the +longest of all countries of the world relatively to the area. Another +noteworthy physical feature is the great number of lakes and ponds; +more than a third of the area is occupied by water. The largest lake +is Grand Lake, 56 miles long, 5 broad, with an area of nearly 200 +square miles. The longest mountain range in the island is about the +same length as the longest river, 200 miles; and the highest peaks do +not very greatly exceed 2000 feet.</p> + +<p>The cliffs, which form a brown, bleak and rugged barrier round the +coasts of Newfoundland, varying in height from 300 to 400 feet, must +have seemed grim enough to the first discoverers; in fact, they give +little indication of the charming natural beauties which lie behind +them. The island is exuberantly rich in woodland, and its long +penetrating bays, running in some cases eighty to ninety miles inland, +and fringed to the water's edge, vividly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>recall the more familiar +attractiveness of Norwegian scenery. Nor has any custom staled its +infinite variety, for as a place of resort it has been singularly free +from vogue. This is a little hard to understand, for the summer +climate is by common consent delightful, and the interior still +retains much of the glamour of the imperfectly explored. The cascades +of Rocky River, of the Exploits River, and, in particular, the Grand +Falls, might in themselves be considered a sufficient excuse for a +voyage which barely exceeds a week.</p> + +<p>Newfoundland is rich in mineral promise. Its history in this respect +goes back only about sixty years: in 1857 a copper deposit was +discovered at Tilt Cove, a small fishing village in Notre Dame Bay, +where seven years later the Union Mine was opened. It is now clear +that copper ore is to be found in quantities almost as inexhaustible +as the supply of codfish. There are few better known copper mines in +the world than Bett's Cove Mine and Little Bay Mine; and there are +copper deposits also at Hare Bay and Tilt Cove. In 1905-6 the copper +ore exported from these mines was valued at more than 375,000 dollars, +in 1910-11 at over 445,000 dollars. The value of the iron ore produced +in the latter period was 3,768,000 dollars. It is claimed that the +iron deposits—red hematite ore—are among the richest in the world. +In Newfoundland, as elsewhere, geology taught capital where to strike, +and when the interior is more <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>perfectly explored it is likely that +fresh discoveries will be made. In the meantime gold, lead, zinc, +silver, talc, antimony, and coal have also been worked at various +places.</p> + +<p>A more particular account must be given of the great fish industry, on +which Newfoundland so largely depends, and which forms about 80 per +cent. of the total exports. For centuries a homely variant of Lord +Rosebery's Egyptian epigram would have been substantially true: +Newfoundland is the codfish and the codfish is Newfoundland. Many, +indeed, are the uses to which this versatile fish may be put. Enormous +quantities of dried cod are exported each year for the human larder, a +hygienic but disagreeable oil is extracted from the liver to try the +endurance of invalids; while the refuse of the carcase is in repute as +a stimulating manure. The cod fisheries of Newfoundland are much +larger than those of any other country in the world; and the average +annual export has been equal to that of Canada and Norway put +together. The predominance of the fishing industry, and its ubiquitous +influence in the colony are vividly emphasised by Mr Rogers<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> in the +following passage, though his first sentence involves an exaggerated +restriction so far as modern conditions are concerned:</p> + +<p>"Newfoundlanders are men of one idea, and that idea is fish. Their +lives are devoted to the sea and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>its produce, and their language +mirrors their lives; thus the chief streets in their chief towns are +named Water Street, guides are called pilots, and visits cruises. +Conversely, land words have sea meanings, and a 'planter,' which meant +in the eighteenth century a fishing settler as opposed to a fishing +visitor, meant in the nineteenth century—when fishing visitors ceased +to come from England—a shipowner or skipper. The very animals catch +the infection, and dogs, cows, and bears eat fish. Fish manures the +fields. Fish, too, is the main-spring of the history of Newfoundland, +and split and dried fish, or what was called in the fifteenth century +stock-fish, has always been its staple, and in Newfoundland fish means +cod."</p> + +<p>The principal home of the cod is the Grand Newfoundland Bank, an +immense submarine island 600 miles in length and 200 in breadth, which +in earlier history probably formed part of North America. Year by year +the demand for codfish grows greater, and the supply—unaffected by +centuries of exaction—continues to satisfy the demand. This happy +result is produced by the marvellous fertility of the cod, for +naturalists tell us that the roe of a single female—accounting, +perhaps, for half the whole weight of the fish—commonly contains as +many as five millions of ova. In the year 1912-13 the value of the +exported dried codfish alone was 7,987,389 dollars, and in 1917 the +total output of the bank and shore cod <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>fishery was valued at +13,680,000 dollars; and at a time when it was incomparably less, Pitt +had thundered in his best style that he would not surrender the +Newfoundland fisheries though the enemy were masters of the Tower of +London. So the great Bacon, at a time when the wealth of the Incas was +being revealed to the dazzled eyes of the Old World, declared, with an +admirable sense of proportion, that the fishing banks of Newfoundland +were richer far than the mines of Mexico and Peru.</p> + +<p>Along the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk the codfish is commonly caught +with hook and line, and the same primitive method is still largely +used by colonial fishermen. More elaborate contrivances are growing in +favour, and will inevitably swell each year's returns. Nor is there +cause to apprehend exhaustion in the supply. The ravages of man are as +nothing to the ravages and exactions of marine nature, and both count +for little in the immense populousness of the ocean. Fishing on a +large scale is most effectively carried on by the Baltow system or one +of its modifications. Each vessel carries thousands of fathoms of +rope, baited and trailed at measured intervals. Thousands of hooks +thus distributed over many miles, and the whole suitably moored. After +a night's interval the catch is examined.</p> + +<p>In 1890 a Fisheries Commission was established for the purpose of +conducting the fisheries more <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>efficiently than had been the case +before. Modern methods were introduced, and the artificial propagation +of cod and also of lobsters was begun. In 1898 a Department of Marine +and Fisheries was set up, and with the minister in charge of it an +advisory Fisheries Board was associated.</p> + +<p>Though the cod-fishery is the largest and the most important of the +Newfoundland fisheries, the seal, lobster, herring, whale and salmon +fisheries are also considerable, and yield high returns. As to all +these fisheries, the right to make regulations has been placed more +effectively in the hands of Great Britain by the Hague arbitration +award, which was published in September 1910, and which satisfied +British claims to a very large extent.</p> + +<p>A pathetic chapter in the history of colonization might be written +upon the fate of native races. A great English authority on +international law (Phillimore) has dealt with their claims to the +proprietorship of American soil in a very summary way.</p> + +<p>"The North American Indians," he says, "would have been entitled to +have excluded the British fur-traders from their hunting-grounds; and +not having done so, the latter must be considered as having been +admitted to a joint occupation of the territory, and thus to have +become invested with a similar right of excluding strangers from such +portions of the country as their own industrial operations covered."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>It is better to say frankly that the highest good of humanity required +the dispossession of savages; and it is permissible to regret that the +morals and humanity of the pioneers of civilization have not always +been worthy of their errand.</p> + +<p>It rarely happens that the native, as in South Africa, has shown +sufficient tenacity and stamina to resist the tide of the white +aggression: more often the invaders have gradually thinned their +numbers. The Spanish adventurers worked to death the soft inhabitants +of the American islands. Many perished by the sword, many in a species +of national decline, the wonders of civilization, for good and for +bad, working an obsession in their childish imaginations which in time +reacted upon the physique of the race.</p> + +<p>Sebastian Cabot has left a record of his standard of morality in +dealing with the natives. When he was Grand Pilot of England it fell +to his lot to give instructions to that brave Northern explorer, Sir +Hugh Willoughby:</p> + +<p>"The natives of strange countries," he advises, "are to be enticed +aboard and made drunk with your beer and wine, for then you shall know +the secrets of their hearts." A further practice which may have caused +resentment in the minds of a sensitive people, was that of kidnapping +the natives to be exhibited as specimens in Europe.</p> + +<p>The natives of Newfoundland were known distinctively as Boeothics or +Beothuks (a name <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>probably meaning red men), who are supposed to have +formed a branch of the great Algonquin tribe of North American +Indians, a warlike race that occupied the north-eastern portion of the +American continent. Cabot saw them dressed in skins like the ancient +Britons, but painted with red ochre instead of blue woad. Cartier, the +pioneer of Canadian adventure, who visited the island in 1534, speaks +of their stature and their feather ornaments. Hayes says in one place: +"In the south parts we found no inhabitants, which by all likelihood +have abandoned these coasts, the same being so much frequented by +Christians. But in the north are savages altogether harmless." +Whitbourne, forty years later, gives the natives an equally good +character: "These savage people being politikely and gently handled, +much good might be wrought upon them: for I have had apparant proofes +of their ingenuous and subtle dispositions, and that they are a people +full of quicke and lively apprehensions.</p> + +<p>"By a plantation" [in Newfoundland] "and by that means only, the poore +mis-beleeving inhabitants of that country may be reduced from +barbarism to the knowledge of God, and the light of his truth, and to +a civill and regular kinde of life and government."</p> + +<p>The plantation came, but it must be admitted that the policy of the +planters was not, at first sight, of a kind to secure the admirable +objects <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>indicated above by King James's correspondent. In fact, for +hundreds of years, and with the occasional interruptions of humanity +or curiosity, the Boeothics were hunted to extinction and perversely +disappeared, without, it must be supposed, having attained to the +"civill and regular kinde of life" which was to date from the +plantation.</p> + +<p>As lately as 1819 a "specimen" was procured in the following way. A +party of furriers met three natives—two male, one female—on the +frozen Red Indian Lake. It appeared later that one of the males was +the husband of the female. The latter was seized; her companions had +the assurance to resist, and were both shot. The woman was taken to +St. John's, and given the name of May March; next winter she was +escorted back to her tribe, but died on the way. These attempts to +gain the confidence of the natives were, perhaps, a little brusque, +and from this point of view liable to misconstruction by an +apprehensive tribe. Ironically enough, the object of the attempt just +described was to win a Government reward of £100, offered to any +person bringing about a friendly understanding with the Red Indians. +Another native woman, Shanandithit, was brought to St. John's in 1823 +and lived there till her death in 1829. She is supposed to have been +the last survivor. Sir Richard Bonnycastle, who has an interesting +chapter on this subject, saw her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>miniature, which, he says, "without +being handsome, shows a pleasing countenance."</p> + +<hr style='width: 25%; margin-top: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1.5em;' /> + +<p>Before closing this introductory chapter a few figures may be usefully +given for reference to illustrate the present condition of the +island.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> At the end of 1917 the population, including that of +Labrador, was 256,500, of whom 81,200 were Roman Catholics and 78,000 +members of the Church of England. The estimated public revenue for the +year 1917-18 was 5,700,000 dollars; the estimated expenditure was +5,450,000 dollars. In the same year the public debt was about +35,450,000 dollars. The estimated revenue for 1918-19 was 6,500,000 +dollars; expenditure, 5,400,000 dollars. In 1898 the imports from the +United Kingdom amounted to £466,925, and the exports to the United +Kingdom to £524,367. In the year 1917-18 the distribution of trade was +mainly as follows: imports from the United Kingdom, 2,248,781 dollars; +from Canada, 11,107,642 dollars; from the United States, 12,244,746 +dollars; exports to the United Kingdom, 3,822,931 dollars; to Canada, +2,750,990 dollars; to the United States, 7,110,322 dollars. The +principal imports in 1916-17 were flour, hardware, textiles, +provisions, coal, and machinery; the chief exports were dried cod, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>pulp and paper, iron and copper ore, cod and seal oil, herrings, +sealskins, and tinned lobsters. In 1917 there were 888 miles of +railway open, of which 841 were Government-owned; and there are over +4600 miles of telegraph line. The tonnage of vessels entered and +cleared at Newfoundland ports in 1916-17 was 2,191,006 tons, of which +1,818,016 tons were British. The number of sailing and steam vessels +registered on December 31st, 1917, was 3496.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> "A Historical Geography of the British Colonies." Vol. v. +Part 4. Newfoundland. (Oxford, 1911.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Op. cit.</i>, p. 192.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> In view of the nature and object of the present book, +only a few figures can be given here; fuller information can easily be +obtained in several of the works referred to herein, and more +particularly in the various accessible Year Books.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER II<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE AGE OF DISCOVERY (1497-1502)</h4> +<br /> + +<p>"If this should be lost," said Sir Walter Raleigh of Newfoundland, "it +would be the greatest blow that was ever given to England." The +observation was marked by much political insight. Two centuries later, +indeed, the countrymen of Raleigh experienced and outlived a shock far +more paralyzing than that of which he was considering the possible +effects; but when the American colonies were lost the world destiny of +England had already been definitely asserted, and the American +loyalists were able to resume the allegiance of their birth by merely +crossing the Canadian frontier. When Raleigh wrote, Newfoundland was +the one outward and visible sign of that Greater England in whose +future he was a passionate believer. Therefore, inasmuch as +Newfoundland, being the oldest of all the English colonies, stood for +the Empire which was to be, the moral effects of its loss in infancy +would have been irretrievably grave. How nearly it was lost will +appear in the following pages.</p> + +<p>Newfoundland, as was fitting for one of the largest islands in the +world, and an island, too, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>drawing strategic importance from its +position, was often conspicuous in that titanic struggle between +England and France for sea power, and therefore for the mastery of the +world, which dwarfs every other feature of the eighteenth century. Nor +did she come out of the struggle quite unscathed. Ill-informed or +indifferent politicians in the Mother Country neglected to push home +the fruits of victory on behalf of the colony which the struggle had +convulsed, and the direct consequence of this neglect may be seen in +the French fishery claims, which long distracted the occasional +leisure of the Colonial Office. Newfoundland has indeed been hardened +by centuries of trial. For years its growth was arrested by the +interested jealousy of English merchants; and its maturity was vexed +by French exactions, against which Canada or Australia would long ago +have procured redress. Newfoundland has been the patient Griselda of +the Empire, and the story of her triumph over moral and material +difficulties—over famine, sword, fire, and internal dissension—fills +a striking chapter in the history of British expansion.</p> + +<p>That keen zest for geographical discovery, which was one of the most +brilliant products of the Renaissance, was slow in making its +appearance in England. Nor are the explanations far to seek. The bull +(1494) of a notorious Pope (Alexander VI.)—lavish, as befits one who +bestows a thing which he cannot enjoy himself, and of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>which he has no +right to dispose—had allocated the shadowy world over the sea to +Spain and Portugal, upon a fine bold principle of division; and +immediately afterwards these two Powers readjusted their boundaries in +the unknown world by the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), which could +not, however, be considered as binding third parties. The line of +longitude herein adopted was commonly held to have assigned +Newfoundland to Portugal, but the view was incorrect. England was +still a Catholic country, and for all its independence of the Pope in +matters temporal, the effects of such a bull must have been very +considerable. Nor did the personal character of Henry VII. incline him +to the path of adventure; and on the few occasions when he was goaded +to enterprise, almost in spite of himself, we are able to admire the +prudence of a prince who was careful to insert two clauses in his +charter of adventure: the first protecting himself against liability +for the cost, the second stipulating for a share of the profits. It is +to the robust insight of Henry VIII. into the conditions of our +national existence that the beginnings of the English Navy are to be +ascribed, and it was under this stubborn prince that English trade +began to depend upon English bottoms. But the real explanation of +Anglo-Saxon backwardness lies somewhat deeper. Foreign adventure and +the planting of settlements must proceed, if they are to be +successful, from an exuberant <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>State; neither in resources, nor in +population, nor, perhaps it must be added, in the spirit of adventure, +was the England of King Henry VII. sufficiently equipped. Hence it +happened that foreign vessels sailed up the Thames, or anchored by the +quays of Bideford in the service of English trade, at a time when the +spirit of Prince Henry the Navigator had breathed into the Portuguese +service, when Diaz was discovering the Cape, and the tiny vessels of +Da Gama were adventuring the immense voyage to Cathay.</p> + +<p>It is now clearly established that the earliest adventurers in America +were men of Norse stock. More than a thousand years ago Greenland was +explored by Vikings from Iceland, and a hundred years later Leif +Ericsson discovered a land—Markland, the land of woods—which is +plausibly identified with Newfoundland. Still keeping a southern +course, the adventurer came to a country where grew vines, and where +the climate was strangely mild; it is likely enough that this landfall +was in Massachusetts or Virginia. The name Vinland was given to the +newly-discovered country. The later voyages of Thorwald Ericsson, of +Thorlstein Ericsson—both brothers of Leif—and of Thorfinn Karlsefne, +are recounted in the Sagas. The story of these early colonists or +"builders," as they called themselves, is weakened by an infusion of +fable, such as the tale of the fast-running one-legged people; but +with all allowances, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>fact of Viking adventure on the American +mainland is unquestioned and unquestionable, though we may say of +these brave sailors, with Professor Goldwin Smith, that nothing more +came of their visit, or in that age could come, than of the visit of a +flock of seagulls.</p> + +<p>It has been asserted by some writers that Basque navigators discovered +the American continent a century before Cabot or Columbus; but +evidence in support of such claims is either wanting or unconvincing. +"Ingenious and romantic theories," says a critic of these views, "have +been propounded concerning discoveries of America by Basque sailors +before Columbus. The whale fishery of that period and long afterwards +was in the hands of the Basques, and it is asserted that, in following +the whales, as they became scarcer, farther and farther out in the +western ocean, they came upon the coasts of Newfoundland a hundred +years before Columbus and Cabot. No solid foundation can be found for +these assertions. The records of the Basque maritime cities contain +nothing to confirm them, and these assertions are mixed up with so +much that is absurd—such as a statement that the Newfoundland Indians +spoke Basque—that the whole hypothesis is incredible."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>The question has been much discussed whether <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>Columbus or Cabot in +later days rediscovered the American mainland. It does not, perhaps, +much matter whether the honour belongs to an Italian employed by Spain +or an Italian employed by England; and it is the less necessary to ask +whether Cabot explored the mainland before Columbus touched at Paria, +that in any event the real credit of the adventure belongs to the +great Spanish sailor. It is well known that Columbus thought, as Cabot +thought after him, that he was discovering a new and short route to +India by the west. Hence was given the name West Indies to the islands +which Columbus discovered; hence the company which administered the +affairs of Hindostan was distinguished as the East India Company. +Hence, too, the spiritual welfare of the Great Khan engaged the +attention of both Columbus and Cabot, whereas, in fact, this potentate +(if, indeed, he existed) was secluded from their disinterested zeal by +a vast continent, and thousands of miles of ocean. These +misconceptions were based on a strange underestimate of the +circumference of the world, but they add, if possible, to our wonder +at the courage of Columbus. Sailing day after day into the unknown, +with tiny ships and malcontent crews, he never faltered in his +purpose, and never lost faith in his theory. When he landed at +Guanahana (Watling's Island) he saw in the Bahamas the Golden +Cyclades, and bethought him how he might convey to the Great Khan the +letters of his Royal <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>patron. He saw in the west coast of Juana the +mainland of Cathay, and in the waters which wash the shores of Cuba he +sought patiently, but vainly, for the Golden Chersonese and the +storied land of the Ganges.</p> + +<p>John Cabot inherited both the truth and the error of Columbus. His +career is one of those irritating mysteries which baffle the most +patient inquiry. Born at Genoa, and naturalized in 1476 at Venice +after fifteen years' residence, he seems to have settled in England +eight or nine years before the close of the fifteenth century. Already +his life had been an adventurous one. We catch glimpses of him at long +intervals: now at Mecca, pushing curious inquiries into the region +whence came the spice caravans; now in Spain, under the spell, +perhaps, of the novel speculations of Toscanelli and Columbus; now +plying his trade as a maker of charts in Bristol or on the Continent. +The confusion between John Cabot and his son Sebastian adds to the +uncertainty. Those who impute to Sebastian Cabot a cuckoo-like +appropriation of his father's glory are able to support their opinion +with weighty evidence. The most astounding feature of all is that the +main incidents of a voyage which attracted as much attention as the +first voyage of John Cabot should so soon have passed into oblivion.</p> + +<p>Marking the boundary as clearly as possible between what is certain +and what is probable, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>we find that on March 5th, 1496, Henry VII. +granted a charter in the following terms:</p> + +<p>"Be it known to all that we have given and granted to our well-beloved +John Cabot, citizen of Venice, and to Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctus, +sons of the said John, and to their heirs and deputies ... authority +to sail to all parts, countries, and seas of the East, of the West, +and of the North, under our banner and ensigns, with five ships, and +to set up our banner on any new found land, as our vassals and +lieutenants, upon their own proper costs and charges to seek out and +discover whatsoever isles ... of the heathen and infidels, which +before the time have been unknown to all Christians...."</p> + +<p>No sooner was the patent granted than the vigilant Spanish ambassador +in London wrote to his master King Ferdinand, that a second Columbus +was about to achieve for the English sovereign what Columbus had +achieved for the Spanish, but "without prejudice to Spain or +Portugal." In reply to this communication Ferdinand directed his +informer to warn King Henry that the project was a snare laid by the +King of France to divest him from greater and more profitable +enterprises, and that in any case the rights of the signatory parties +under the Treaty of Tordesillas would thereby be invaded. However, the +voyage contemplated in the charter was begun in 1497, in defiance of +the Spanish warning and arrogant <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>pretensions. It will be noticed that +the charter extends its privileges to the sons of John Cabot. It is +better, with Mr Justice Prowse, to see in this circumstance a proof of +the prudence of the adventurer, who prolonged the duration of his +charter by the inclusion of his infant sons, than to infer in the +absence of evidence that any of them was his companion. According to +one often quoted authority, Sebastian Cabot claimed in later life not +merely to have taken part in the expedition, but to have been its +commander,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> and placed it after his father's death. Against this +claim, if it was ever made, we must notice that in the Royal licence +for the second voyage the newly found land is said to have been +discovered by John Cabotto. It is impossible to say with certainty how +many ships took part in Cabot's voyage. An old tradition, depending +upon an unreliable manuscript,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> says that Cabot's own ship was +called the <i>Matthew</i>, a vessel of about fifty tons burden, and manned +by sixteen Bristol seamen and one Burgundian. It is probable that the +voyage began early in May, and it is certain that Cabot was back in +England by August 10th, for on that date we find the following entry +in the Privy Purse expenses of Henry VII., revealing a particularly +stingy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>recognition of the discoverer's splendid service, which, +however, was soon afterwards recognized less unhandsomely:</p> + +<p>"1497, Aug. 10th.—To hym that found the New Isle, £10."<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>The only reliable contemporary authorities on the subject of John +Cabot's first voyage are the family letters of Lorenzo Pasqualigo, a +Venetian merchant resident in London, to his brother, and the official +correspondence of Raimondo di Raimondi, Archpriest of Soncino. The +latter's account is somewhat vague. He says, in his letters to Duke +Sforza of Milan, August 24th, and December 18th, 1497, that Cabot, +"passing Ibernia on the west, and then standing towards the north, +began to navigate the eastern ocean, leaving in a few days the north +star on the right hand, and having wandered a good deal he came at +last to firm land.... This Messor Zoanni Caboto," he proceeds, "has +the description of the world in a chart, and also in a solid globe +which he has made, and he shows where he landed." Raimondo adds that +Cabot discovered two islands, one of which he gave to his barber and +the other to a Burgundian friend, who called themselves Counts, whilst +the commander assumed the airs of a prince.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>We have from the Venetian, Pasqualigo, a letter, dated August 23rd, +1497, which was probably a fortnight or three weeks after the return +of Cabot. According to this authority, Cabot discovered land 700 +leagues away, the said land being the territory of the Great Khan (the +"Gram cham"). He coasted along this land for 300 leagues, and on the +homeward voyage sighted two islands, on which, after taking possession +of them, he hoisted the Venetian as well as the English flag. "He +calls himself the grand admiral, walks abroad in silk attire, and +Englishmen run after him like madmen."<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> It is easy to overrate the +reliability of such letters as those of Pasqualigo and Raimondo, and +Pasqualigo's statement that Cabot sailed from Bristol to this new +land, coasted for 300 leagues along it, and returned within a period +of three months, is impossible to accept. At the same time, the +accounts given by these writers occur, one in the frank intimacy of +family correspondence, the other in the official reports of a +diplomatic representative to his chief. They are both unquestionably +disinterested, and are very much more valuable than the later +tittle-tattle of Peter Martyr and Ramusio, which has plainly filtered +through what Mr Beazley would call Sebastianized channels.</p> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span><br /> + +<div class="img"><a name="map2" id="map2"></a> +<a href="images/mapp033.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/mapp033.jpg" alt="NEWFOUNDLAND in Relation to WESTERN EUROPE" /></a> +</div> + +<br /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>A keen controversy has raged as to the exact landfall of John Cabot in +his 1497 voyage, and it cannot be said that a decisive conclusion has +followed. A long tradition (fondly repeated by Mr Justice Prowse) +finds the landfall in Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland. It is difficult to +say more than that it may have been so; it may too have been in Cape +Breton Island, or even some part of the coast of Labrador. In any +case, whether or not Cabot found his landfall in Newfoundland, he must +have sighted it in the course of his voyage. It may be mentioned here +by way of caution that the name Newfoundland was specialized in later +times so as to apply to the island alone, and that it was at first +used indifferently to describe all the territories discovered by +Cabot.</p> + +<p>As no true citizen of Newfoundland will surrender the belief that Cape +Bonavista was in fact the landfall of Cabot, it seems proper to insert +in the story of the island, for what they are worth, the nearest +contemporary accounts of Cabot's voyage. They are more fully collected +in Mr Beazley's monograph,<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> to which I am indebted for the +translations which follow. The first account is contained, as has +already been pointed out, in a letter written by Raimondo di Raimondi +to the Duke of Milan:</p> + +<p>"Most illustrious and excellent my Lord,—Perhaps among your +Excellency's many <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>occupations, you may not be displeased to learn how +His Majesty here has won a part of Asia without a stroke of the sword. +There is in this kingdom a Venetian fellow, Master John Cabot by name, +of a fine mind, greatly skilled in navigation, who, seeing that those +most serene kings, first he of Portugal, and then the one of Spain, +have occupied unknown islands, determined to make a like acquisition +for His Majesty aforesaid. And having obtained Royal grants that he +should have the usufruct of all that he should discover, provided that +the ownership of the same is reserved to the Crown, with a small ship +and eighteen persons he committed himself to fortune. And having set +out from Bristol, a western port of this kingdom, and passed the +western limits of Hibernia, and then standing to the northward, he +began to steer eastwards [meaning westwards], leaving, after a few +days, the North Star on his right hand. And having wandered about +considerably, at last he fell in with <i>terra firma</i>, where, having +planted the Royal banner and taken possession in the behalf of this +King; and having taken several tokens, he has returned thence. The +said Master John, as being foreign-born and poor, would not be +believed, if his comrades, who are almost all Englishmen and from +Bristol, did not testify that what he says is true.</p> + +<p>"This Master John has the description of the world in a chart, and +also in a solid globe which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>he has made, and he [or it] shows where +he landed, and that going toward the east [again for west] he passed +considerably beyond the country of the Tansis. And they say that it is +a very good and temperate country, and they think that Brazil wood and +silks grow there; and they affirm that that sea is covered with +fishes, which are caught not only with the net but with baskets, a +stone being tied to them in order that the baskets may sink in the +water. And this I heard the said Master John relate, and the aforesaid +Englishmen, his comrades, say that they will bring so many fish, that +this kingdom will no longer have need of Iceland, from which country +there comes a very great store of fish called stock-fish +('stockfissi'). But Master John has set his mind on something greater; +for he expects to go further on towards the east [again for west] from +that place already occupied, constantly hugging the shore, until he +shall be over against [or on the other side of] an island, by him +called Cimpango, situated in the equinoctial region, where he thinks +all the spices of the world and also the precious stones originate. +And he says that in former times he was at Mecca, whither spices are +brought by caravans from distant countries, and these [caravans] again +say that they are brought to them from other remote regions. And he +argues thus—that if the Orientals affirmed to the Southerners that +these things come from a distance from them, and so from hand to +hand, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>presupposing the rotundity of the earth, it must be that the +last ones get them at the north, toward the west. And he said it in +such a way that, having nothing to gain or lose by it, I too believe +it; and, what is more, the King here, who is wise and not lavish, +likewise puts some faith in him; for, since his return he has made +good provision for him, as the same Master John tells me. And it is +said that in the spring His Majesty aforenamed will fit out some ships +and will besides give him all the convicts, and they will go to that +country to make a colony, by means of which they hope to establish in +London a greater storehouse of spices than there is in Alexandria, and +the chief men of the enterprise are of Bristol, great sailors, who, +now that they know where to go, say that it is not a voyage of more +than fifteen days, nor do they ever have storms after they get away +from Hibernia. I have also talked with a Burgundian, a comrade of +Master John's, who confirms everything, and wishes to return thither +because the Admiral (for so Master John already entitles himself) has +given him an island; and he has given another one to a barber of his +from Castiglione, of Genoa, and both of them regard themselves as +Counts, nor does my Lord the Admiral esteem himself anything less than +a prince. I think that with this expedition will go several poor +Italian monks, who have all been promised bishoprics. And as I have +become a friend of the Admiral's, if I wished to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>go thither, I should +get an Archbishopric. But I have thought that the benefices which your +Excellency has in store for me are a surer thing."</p> + +<p>To those who, in the teeth of contemporary evidence, prefer the claims +of Sebastian, the following extracts may be offered; the first from +Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, who wrote in the early sixteenth century, the +second from Ramusio. Martyr writes:</p> + +<p>"These north seas have been searched by one Sebastian Cabot, a +Venetian born, whom, being yet but in matter an infant, his parents +carried with them into England, having occasion to resort thither for +trade of merchandises, as is the manner of the Venetians to leave no +part of the world unsearched to obtain riches. He therefore furnished +two ships in England at his own charges; and, first, with 300 men, +directed his course so far towards the North Pole, that even in the +month of July he found monstrous heaps of ice swimming in the sea, and +in manner continual daylight, yet saw he the land in that tract free +from ice, which had been molten by heat of the sun. Thus, seeing such +heaps of ice before him, he was enforced to turn his sails and follow +the west, so coasting still by the shore he was thereby brought so far +into the south, by reason of the land bending so much southward, that +it was there almost equal in latitude with the sea called Fretum +Herculeum [Straits of Gibraltar], having <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>the North Pole elevate in +manner in the same degree. He sailed likewise in this tract so far +toward the west that he had the Island of Cuba [on] his left hand in +manner in the same degree of longitude. As he travelled by the coasts +of this great land, which he named Baccallaos [cod-fish country], he +saith that he found the like course of the water towards the west +[<i>i.e.</i> as before described by Martyr], but the same to run more +softly and gently than the swift waters which the Spaniards found in +their navigation southward.... Sebastian Cabot himself named those +lands Baccallaos, because that in the seas thereabout he found so +great multitudes of certain big fish much like unto tunnies (which the +inhabitants called Baccallaos) that they sometimes stayed his ships. +He found also the people of those regions covered with beasts' skins, +yet not without the use of reason. He saith also that there is great +plenty of bears in those regions, which used to eat fish. For, +plunging themselves into the water where they perceive a multitude of +those fish to lie, they fasten their claws in their scales, and so +draw them to land and eat them. So that, as he saith, the bears being +thus satisfied with fish, are not noisome to men."</p> + +<p>Ramusio represents Sebastian Cabot as making the following statement:</p> + +<p>"When my father departed from Venice many years since to dwell in +England, to follow the trade of merchandises, he took me with him to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>the city of London while I was very young, yet having nevertheless +some knowledge of letters, of humanity, and of the sphere. And when my +father died, in that time when news were brought that Don Christopher +Colombus, the Genoese, had discovered the coasts of India, whereof was +great talk in all the Court of King Henry the Seventh, who then +reigned; in so much that all men, with great admiration, affirmed it +to be a thing more divine than human to sail by the west into the +east, where spices grow, by a way that was never known before; by +which fame and report there increased in my heart a great flame of +desire to attempt some notable thing. And understanding by reason of +the sphere that if I should sail by way of the north-west wind I +should by a shorter track come to India, I thereupon caused the King +to be advertised of my device, who immediately commanded two caravels +to be furnished with all things appertaining to the voyage, which was, +as far as I remember, in the year 1496 in the beginning of summer. +Beginning therefore to sail toward north-west, nor thinking to find +any other land than that of Cathay, and from thence to turn towards +India, after certain days I found that the land ran toward the north, +which was to me a great displeasure. Nevertheless, sailing along by +the coast to see if I could find any gulf that turned, I found the +land still continent to the 56th degree under our Pole. And seeing +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>that there the coast turned toward the east, despairing to find the +passage, I turned back again and sailed down by the coast of that land +toward the equinoctial (ever with intent to find the said passage to +India) and came to that part of this firm land which is now called +Florida; where, my victuals failing, I departed from thence and +returned into England, where I found great tumults among the people +and preparation for the war to be carried into Scotland; by reason +whereof there was no more consideration had to this voyage."<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>The discoveries of Cabot were appreciated by Henry VII., a prince who +rarely indulged in unprovoked benefactions, for on December 13th, +1497, we find a grant of an annual pension to Cabot of £20 a year, +worth between £200 and £300 in modern money (a pension that was drawn +twice):</p> + +<p>"We let you wit that we for certain considerations as specially +moving, have given and granted unto our well-beloved John Cabot, of +the parts of Venice, an annuity or annual rent of £20 sterling."<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> +It is material to notice that Sebastian, so considerable a figure in +the later accounts, is not mentioned in this grant. So it has been +observed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>that John Cabot is mentioned alone in the charter for the +second voyage; the authority is given explicitly to "our well-beloved +John Kabotto, Venetian." Apparently the second voyage was begun in +May, 1498, but a cloud of obscurity besets the attempt to determine +its results. It is noted in the Records under 1498 that Sebastian +Gaboto, "a Genoa's son," obtained from the King a vessel "to search +for an island which he knew to be replenished with rich commodities." +It is likely enough that Sebastian Cabot took part in this voyage, as +indeed he may have done in the earlier one; but it is clear that John +Sebastian was present in person, for Raimondo describes an interview +in which John unfolds his scheme for proceeding from China (which he +imagined himself to have discovered) to Japan.</p> + +<p>This brief account of the Cabots, so far as their voyages relate +particularly to Newfoundland, may be closed by some further citations +from the Privy Purse expenses of Henry VII.:</p> + +<p>"1498, March 24th.—To Lanslot Thirkill of London, upon a prest for +his shipp going towards the New Ilande, £20.</p> + +<p>"April 1st.—To Thomas Bradley and Lanslot Thirkill, going to the New +Isle, £30.</p> + +<p>"1503, Sept. 30th.—To the merchants of Bristoll that have been in the +Newfounde Lande, £20.</p> + +<p>"1504, Oct. 17th.—To one that brought hawkes from the Newfounded +Island, £1.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>"1505. Aug. 25th.—To Clays goying to Richemount, with wylde catts and +popynjays of the Newfound Island, for his costs 13s. 4d."<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Stanford's "Compendium of Geography and Travel" (New +Issue). North America, vol. i. Canada and Newfoundland. Edited by H.M. +Ami (London, 1915), p. 1007.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> See the excellent contribution of Mr Raymond Beazley to +the "Builders of Greater Britain" Series—"John and Sebastian Cabot."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> The Fust MSS., Mill Court, Gloucestershire.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> S. Bentley, "Excerpts Historica" (1831), p. 113.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> These letters, together with other relative documents, +are given in the publication of the Italian Columbian Royal +Commission: "Reale Commissione Colombiana: Raccolta di Documenti e +Studi" (Rome, 1893), Part 3, vol. i., pp. 196-198.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> "Reale Commissione Colombiana: Raccolta di Documenti e +Studi" (Rome, 1893), Part 3, vol. ii., p. 109: "Calendar of State +Papers," Venetian Series, vol. i., p. 262.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> The more authoritative Italian source has already been +indicated.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> The testimony of both Peter Martyr and Ramusio, and of +others, like Gomara and Fabyan, who support the claims of Sebastian as +against John Cabot, does not now find favour; <i>cf.</i> Rogers, <i>op. +cit.</i>, p. 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Custom's Roll of the Port of Bristol, 1496-9, edited by +E. Scott, A.E. Hudd, etc. (1897).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> See Hakluyt Society Publications (1850), vol. vii., p. +lxii. Bentley, <i>op. cit.</i>, pp. 126, 129, 131.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER III<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>EARLY HISTORY. AGE OF IMPERFECT COLONIZATION</h4> +<br /> + +<p>The motives and projects of the early English colonizers are thus +aptly described by a recent writer already referred to:<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> "The +colonizers were actuated by three different kinds of definite ideas, +and definite colonization was threefold in its character. In the first +place, there were men who were saturated in the old illusions and +ideas, and intended colonization as a means to an end, the end being +the gold and silver and spices of Asia. Secondly, there were +fishermen, who went to Newfoundland for its own sake, in order to +catch fish for the European market, who were without illusions or +ideas or any wish to settle, and who belonged to many nations, and +thwarted but also paved the way for more serious colonizers. Thirdly, +there were idealists who wished to colonize for colonization's sake +and to make England great; but in order to make England great they +thought it necessary to humble Spain in the dust, and their ideas were +destructive as well as creative. All <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>these colonizers had their +special projects, and each project, being inspired by imperfect +ideals, failed more or less, or changed its character from time to +time. The first and third projects were at one time guided by the same +hand; but the first project gradually cast off its colonizing slough, +and resolved itself once more into discovery for discovery's sake; and +the third project ceased to be a plan of campaign, and resolved itself +into sober and peaceful schemes for settling in the land. Even the +second project, which was unled, uninspired, unnational, and almost +unconscious, and which began and continued as though in obedience to +some irresistible and unchangeable natural and economic law, assumed +different shapes and semblances, as it blended or refused to blend +with the patriotic projects of the idealists. These three types of +colonization..., though they tended on different directions, ... were +hardly distinguishable in the earlier phases of their history. Perhaps +a fourth type should be added, but this fourth type was what +naturalists call an aberrant type, and only comprised two colonizers, +Rut and Hore, whose aims were indistinct, and who had no clear idea +where they meant to go, or what they meant to do when they got there."</p> + +<p>After the first discovery of Newfoundland and the adjoining coast, +English official interest in the island declined, and English traders +were occupied for the time being with their intercourse with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>Iceland, +whence they obtained all the codfish they had need of. The new field +of exploration and enterprise was thus left for some twenty years to +others. At the beginning of the sixteenth century Gaspar Cortereal, a +brave Portuguese sailor, having obtained a commission from the King of +Portugal, made two voyages (in 1500 and 1501) with the object of +discovering a north-west passage to Asia, explored the coasts of +Greenland, Labrador, and Newfoundland, and finally lost his life on +the coast of Labrador (1501).<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> On the ground of these discoveries, +reinforced by the title conferred by the bull of Alexander VI., the +Portuguese asserted their claim to Newfoundland. Henceforward +Portuguese fishermen began to share the dangers and profits of the cod +fishery with the hardy folk of Normandy and Brittany, and with +Spaniards and Basques, who had followed fast in the footsteps of the +earliest discoverers. Hence we find that many names of places and the +east coast of the island are corruptions of Portuguese words, whilst +names on the south coast show a French or a Basque origin.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>In a sense it is true that Newfoundland has owed everything to its +fisheries, but it is unfortunately also true that a sharp dissidence +between the interests of alien fisheries and the policy of local +development did much to retard the days of permanent settlement. That +the more southern races of Europe took a large part in the development +of the fisheries was only natural, inasmuch as the principal markets +for the dried and salted codfish were in the Catholic countries of +Europe. Continuously from the beginning of the sixteenth century the +opening of each season brought vessels of many nationalities to a +harvest which sufficed for all. We cannot say that at this time any +primacy was claimed for English vessels, but there is no reason to +doubt that Englishmen soon played a conspicuous part in opening up the +trade. By the time of Henry VIII. the Newfoundland industry was +sufficiently well known to be included with the Scotch and Irish +Fisheries in an exception clause to a statute which forbade the +importation of foreign fish.</p> + +<p>This statute is sufficiently noteworthy as an economic curiosity to be +set forth <i>in extenso</i>.</p> + +<br /> + +<div class="block"><p class="cen">"<span class="sc">Act 33 Henry</span> VIII., c. xi.</p> + +<p>"The Bill conceryning bying of fisshe upon the see.</p> + +<p>"Whereas many and dyvers townes and portes by the see side +have in tymes past bene in great <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>welthe and prosperitie well +buylded by using and exercysing the crafts and feate of +fisshing by the whiche practise it was not onelie great +strengthe to this Realme by reason of bringing up and +encreasing of Maryners whensoever the King's Grace had neede +of them but also a great welthe to the Realme and habundance +of suche wherebie oure sovereigne Lorde the King the Lords +Gentilmen and Comons were alwais well served of fisshe in +Market townes of a reasonable price and also by reason of the +same fisshing many men were made and grewe riche and many +poure Men and women had therebie there convenyent lyving—to +the strengthe encreasing and welthe of this realme.</p> + +<p>"And whereas many and dyvers of the saide fissherman for their +singular lucre and advantage doe leve the said crafte of +fisshing and be confederate w Pycardes Flemynghes Norman and +Frenche-men and sometyme sayle over into the costes of +Pycardie and Flaunders and sometyme doo meete the said +Pycardes and Flemynghes half the see over.</p> + +<p>"Penalty on subjects bying fishe in Flaunders &c., or at sea +to be sold in England, £10.</p> + +<p>"And be it furder enacted by the auctoritie aforesaide that it +shall be lawful to all and every fissher estraunger to come +and to sell.</p> + +<p>"Provided furthermore that this Act or any thing therein +conteyned shall not extende to any person whiche shall bye eny +fisshe in any parties of Iseland, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>Scotlands, Orkeney, +Shotlande, Ireland, or Newland [Newfoundland]."</p></div> + +<br /> + +<p>The caution, however, suggested above must be borne in mind in +noticing the earliest mention of Newfoundland; the name was +indiscriminately applied to the island itself and to the neighbouring +coasts, so that it is for some time impossible to be sure whether it +is employed in the wide or narrow sense. It is certain, however, that +the island was becoming well known. Its position as the nearest point +to Europe made it familiar to the band of Northerly explorers. +Verrazzano, a Florentine, in the service of France, determined to +discover a western way to Cathay, sailed along America northward from +North Carolina, and placed the French flag on the territory lying +between New Spain and Newfoundland, which newly acquired territory was +thenceforth designated Norumbega or New France. All such original +annexations, whether pretended or real, were in the circumstances +extremely ill-defined; and maps of the time were frequently vague, +confusing, and contradictory. Cartier, on his way to sow the seeds of +a French Empire in North America, sailed past the coast (1534), and on +his second voyage (1535) foregathered with Roberval in the roadstead +of St. John's. Still earlier, in 1527, a voyage was made to the island +by John Rut, with the countenance of Henry VIII. and encouragement of +Cardinal <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>Wolsey, but the authorities for this voyage are late and +unreliable. Purchas reproduces a valuable letter from John Rut (who +was a better sailor than scholar) to the King, from which it appears +that he found in the harbour of St. John's "eleven saile of Normans +and one Brittaine, and two Portugall barks, and all a fishing," as +well as two English trade-ships.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>The later adventure—"voyage of discovery"—of Master Hore, in 1536, +which was undertaken "by the King's favour," is inimitably told by +Hakluyt. His co-adventurers are described as "many gentlemen of the +Inns of Court and of the Chancerie"; there were also a number of +east-country merchants. After missing their proper course, and almost +starving, they were succoured by a French vessel off the coast of +Newfoundland. The gentlemen of the long robe had been out of their +element up to this encounter, but Judge Prowse notes with proper +professional pride the tribute of Hakluyt: "Such was the policie of +the English that they became masters of [the French ship], and +changing ships and vittailing them, they set sail to come into +England." The extremities to which these adventurers were reduced +before their relief is horribly illustrated by the narrative of +Hakluyt:</p> + +<p>"Whilst they lay there they were in great want of provision and they +found small relief, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>more than that they had from the nest of an +osprey (or eagle) that brought hourly to her young great plenty of +divers sorts of fishes. But such was the famine amongst them that they +were forced to eat raw herbs and roots, which they sought for in the +maine. But the relief of herbs being not sufficient to satisfie their +craving appetites, when in the deserts in search of herbage, the +fellow killed his mate while hee stouped to take up a root, and +cutting out pieces of his body whom he had murthered, broyled the same +on the coals and greedily devoured them. By this means the company +decreased and the officers knew not what was become of them."<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>For many years we must be content with the knowledge that the fishing +resources of Newfoundland were growing in reputation and popularity. +Now and then the curtain is lifted, and we catch a glimpse of life on +the island. Thus Anthony Parkhurst, a Bristol merchant, who had made +the voyage himself four times, notes in 1578, in a letter written to +Hakluyt containing a report of the true state and commodities of +Newfoundland, that "there were generally more than 100 sail of +Spaniards taking cod, and from 20 to 30 killing whales; 50 sail of +Portuguese; 150 sail of French and Bretons ... but of English only 50 +sail. Nevertheless, the English are commonly lords of the harbours +where they fish, and use all strangers' <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>help in fishing, if need +require, according to an old custom of the country."<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + +<p>Clearer still is our information when the ill-fated Sir Humphrey +Gilbert, the half-brother of Raleigh, visited the island in 1583. +Already in 1574 Gilbert, together with Sir Richard Grenville, Sir +George Peckham and Christopher Carleill, applied for a patent with a +view to colonizing "the northern parts of America"; but, though a sum +of money was raised in Bristol for this object, the scheme fell +through. Gilbert's perseverance, however, was by no means checked. For +in 1577 he submitted a project to Lord Burleigh, asking for authority +to discover and colonize strange lands, and incidentally to seize +Spanish prizes and establish English supremacy over the seas. The +following year he received a patent to discover, colonize, fortify, +own and rule territories not in the possession of friendly Christian +Powers—subject to the prerogation of the Crown and the claims of the +Crown to a fifth part of the gold and silver obtained. His settlements +were to be made within a period of six years. Having obtained the +support of such men as Sir George Peckham, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir +Philip Sidney, Richard Hakluyt, Thomas Aldworth, as well as of Sir +Francis Walsingham, the anti-Spanish minister, and of Bristol +merchants,<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> Gilbert set sail on June 11th, 1583, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>from Plymouth +with five vessels—the <i>Raleigh</i> (200 tons) which was equipped by Sir +W. Raleigh, acting as vice-admiral, the <i>Delight</i> (120 tons) on which +was Gilbert, as admiral, the <i>Swallow</i> (40 tons) the <i>Golden Hind</i> (40 +tons), and the <i>Squirrel</i> (10 tons). Two days later the <i>Raleigh</i> +returned on the ground, it seems, that her captain and many of her men +had fallen sick. The entire crew consisted of 260 men, including +shipwrights, masons, carpenters, smiths, miners, and refiners. They +took with them a good variety of music "for solace of our people, and +allurement of the savages"; a number of toys, "as morris dancers, +hobby horsse, and many like conceits to delight the savage people, +whom we intended to winne by all faire meanes possible"; and also a +stock of haberdashery wares for the purpose of barter. Gilbert reached +St. John's on August 3rd, 1583, with his four vessels, and found in +the harbour twenty Spanish and Portuguese ships and sixteen English +ships. The latter made ready to give battle to the newcomers; but as +soon as the English vessels were informed of the mission, "they caused +to be discharged all the great ordnance of their fleet in welcome," +and soon afterwards entertained their guests at their "summer garden." +The great importance of the errand was recognized, for it had no less +an object than to take possession of the island in the name of Queen +Elizabeth, by virtue of Cabot's discoveries, and the later acts of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>occupation. Even then the small town of St. John's was not without +pretension to the amenities of social life. One, Edward Haie (or +Hayes), who was present—indeed he was the captain and owner of the +<i>Golden Hind</i>—and who has left us an account of the expedition,<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> +speaks of it as a populous and frequented place. According to the same +account, possession was taken of the territory on August 5th: "Munday +following, the General had his tent set up, who being accompanied with +his own followers, sommoned the marchants and masters, both English +and strangers to be present at his taking possession of those +countries. Before whom openly was read and interpreted unto the +strangers of his commission: by vertue whereof he tooke possession in +the same harbour of S. John, and 200 leagues every way, invested the +Queenes Majestie with the tith and dignitie thereof, had delivered +unto him (after the custome of England) a rod and a turffe of the same +soile, entring <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>possession also for him, his heires and assignes for +ever: and signified unto al men, that from that time forward, they +should take the same land as a territorie appertaining to the Queene +of England, and himself authorized under her majestie to possesse and +enjoy it. And to ordaine lawes for the government thereof, agreeable +(so neere as conveniently might be) unto the lawes of England: under +which all people comming thither hereafter, either to inhabite, or by +way of traffique, should be subjected and governed." Gilbert's +authority was not seriously questioned; by virtue of his commission he +"ordained and established three lawes to begin with." They are given +by Hayes as follows:</p> + +<br /> + +<div class="block2"> +<p class="hang">1. Establishment of the Church of England.</p> + +<p class="hang">2. Any attempt prejudicial to Her Majesty's rights in the +territory to be punished as in a case of High Treason.</p> + +<p class="hang">3. Anyone uttering words of dishonour to Her Majesty should +lose his ears and have his goods and ship confiscated.</p></div> + +<br /> + +<p>"To be brief," concludes the same authority, "Gilbert dyd lette, +sette, give, and dispose of many things as absolute Governor there by +virtue of Her Majesty's letter patent."</p> + +<p>The passage in which Captain Hayes describes the Newfoundland of his +day must be of such <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>interest to its present inhabitants that it is +worth while to set it out in full:</p> + +<p>"That which we doe call the Newfoundland, and the Frenchmen Bacalaos, +is an island, or rather (after the opinion of some) it consisteth of +sundry islands and broken lands, situate in the north regions of +America, upon the gulph and entrance of the great river called S. +Laurence in Canada. Into the which navigation may be made both on the +south and north side of this island. The land lyeth south and north, +containing in length betweene three and 400 miles, accounting from +Cape Race (which is in 46 degrees 25 minuts) unto the Grand Bay in 52 +degrees of septentrionall latitude. The iland round about hath very +many goodly bayes and harbors, safe roads for ships, the like not to +be found in any part of the knowen world.</p> + +<p>"The common opinion that is had of intemperature and extreme cold that +should be in this countrey, as of some part it may be verified, namely +the north, where I grant it is more colde than in countries of Europe, +which are under the same elevation: even so it cannot stand with +reason and nature of the clime that the south parts should be so +intemperate as the bruit hath gone. For as the same doe lie under the +climats of Briton, Aniou, Poictou, in France, between 46 and 49 +degrees, so can they not so much differ from the temperature of those +countries: unless upon the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>out coasts lying open unto the ocean and +sharpe winds, it must in neede be subject to more colde, then further +within the lande, where the mountaines are interposed, as walles and +bulwarkes, to defende and to resiste the asperitie and rigor of the +sea and weather. Some hold opinion, that the Newfoundland might be the +more subject to cold, by how much it lyeth high and neere unto the +middle region. I grant that not in Newfoundland alone, but in Germany, +Italy, and Afrike, even under the Equinoctiall line, the mountaines +are extreme cold, and seeldome uncovred of snow, in their culme and +highest tops, which commeth to passe by the same reason that they are +extended towards the middle region: yet in the countries lying beneth +them, it is found quite contrary. Even so all hils having their +discents, the valleis also and low grounds must be likewise hot or +temperate, as the clime doeth give in Newfoundland, though I am of +opinion that the sunnes reflection is much cooled, and cannot be so +forcible in the Newfoundland nor generally throughout America, as in +Europe or Afrike: by how much the sunne in his diurnall course from +east to west passeth over (for the most part) dry land and sandy +countries, before he arriveth at the West of Europe or Afrike, whereby +his motion increaseth heate, with little or no qualification by moyst +vapours, where on the contraire, he passeth from Europe and Africa +unto America over the ocean, from whence it draweth <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>and carrieth with +him abundance of moyst vapours, which doe qualifie and infeeble +greatly the sunne's reverberation upon this countrey chiefly of +Newfoundland, being so much to the northward. Neverthelesse (as I sayd +before) the cold cannot be so intollerable under the latitude of 46, +47, and 48, especiall within land, that it should be unhabitable, as +some doe suppose, seeing also there are very many people more to the +north by a great deale. And in these south partes there be certain +beastes, ounces or leopards, and birdes in like manner which in the +sommer we have seene, not heard of in countries of extreme and +vehement coldnesse. Besides, as in the monethes of June, July, August, +and September, the heate is somewhat more than in England at those +seasons: so men remaining upon the south parts neere unto Cape Rece, +until after Hollandtide, have not found the cold so extreme, nor much +differing from the temperature of England. Those which have arrived +there after November and December have found the snow exceeding deepe, +whereat no marvaile, considering the ground upon the coast is rough +and uneven, and the snow is driven into the places most declyning, as +the like is to be seen with us. The like depth of snow happily shall +not be found within land upon the playner countries, which also are +defended by the mountaines, breaking off the violence of the winds and +weather. But admitting extraordinary cold in these south <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>parts, above +that with us here: it cannot be so great as that in Swedland, much +less in Muscovia or Russia; yet are the same countries very populous, +and the rigor of cold is dispensed with by the commoditie of stoves, +warme clothing, meats and drinkes; all which neede not to be wanting +in the Newfoundland, if we had intent there to inhabite.</p> + +<p>"In the south parts we found no inhabitants, which by all likelihood +have abandoned those coastes, the same being so much frequented by +Christians: but in the north are savages altogether harmlesse. +Touching the commodities of this countrie, serving either for +sustentation of inhabitants, or for maintenance of traffique, there +are and may be made; so and it seemeth Nature hath recompensed that +only defect and incommoditie of some sharpe cold, by many benefits: +viz., with incredible quantitie and no less varietie of kindes of fish +in the sea and fresh waters, as trouts, salmons, and other fish to us +unknowen: also cod, which alone draweth many nations thither, and is +become the most famous fishing of the world. Abundance of whales, for +which also is a very great trade in the bayes of Placentia, and the +Grand Bay, where is made trane oiles of the whale. Herring, the +largest that have been heard of, and exceeding the alstrond herring of +Norway: but hitherto was never benefit taken of the herring fishery. +There are sundry other fish very delicate, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>namely the bonits, +lobsters, turbut, with others infinite not sought after: oysters +having pearle but not orient in colour: I took it by reason they were +not gathered in season.</p> + +<p>"Concerning the inland commodities as wel to be drawen from this land, +as from the exceeding large countries adioyning; there is nothing +which our east and northerly countries doe yeelde, but the like also +may be made in them as plentifully by time and industrie: namely, +rosen, pitch, tarre, sope, ashes, deel boord, mastes for ships, hides, +furres, flaxe, hempe, corne, cables, cordage, linnen-cloth, mettals, +and many more. All which the countries will aford, and the soyle is +apt to yeelde.</p> + +<p>"The trees for the most in those south parts, are firre trees, pine +and cypresse, all yielding gumme and turpentine. Cherrie trees bearing +fruit no bigger than a small pease. Also peare trees, but fruitlesse. +Other trees of some sorts to us unknowen.</p> + +<p>"The soyle along the coast is not deepe of earth, bringing foorth +abundantly peason, small, yet good feeding for cattel. Roses, passing +sweet, like unto our mucke roses in forme, raspases, a berry which we +call harts, good and holesome to eat. The grasse and herbe doth fat +sheepe in very short space, proved by English marchants which have +caried sheepe thither for fresh victuall, and had them raised +exceeding fat in lesse than three weekes. Peason which our +countrey-men have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>sowen in the time of May, have come up faire, and +bene gathered in the beginning of August, of which our generall had a +present acceptable for the rarenesse, being the first fruits coming up +by art and industrie, in that desolate and dishabited land.</p> + +<p>"We could not observe the hundredth part of these creatures in those +unhabited lands: but these mentioned may induce us to glorifie the +magnificent God, who hath superabundantly replenished the earth with +creatures serving for the use of man, though man hath not used the +fift part of the same, which the more doth aggravate the fault and +foolish slouth in many of our nation, chusing rather to live +indirectly, and very miserably to live and die within this realme +pestered with inhabitants, then to adventure as becommeth men, to +obtaine an habitation in those remote lands, in which Nature very +prodigally doth minister unto mens endeavours, and for art to worke +upon."</p> + +<p>The story of Gilbert's disastrous expedition and voyage home is well +known; how some of his men sailed off in a stolen vessel, some ran +away into the woods, and others falling sick were sent home in the +<i>Swallow</i>; how he set sail on August 20th (that is, after a stay on +the island of only a fortnight) with his three remaining vessels, +overloaded and under-manned as they were; how his vessels, after the +wreck of the <i>Delight</i> off Sabre Island, were reduced to the <i>Golden +Hind</i> and the <i>Squirrel</i>; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>how in a prodigious hurricane he refused to +transfer himself from the tiny <i>Squirrel</i> to the larger vessel; and +how he died encouraging his ill-fated company—"We are as near heaven +by sea as by land." Though the expedition ended in disaster, and the +intention to found a settlement failed utterly, the bold enterprise +could not but exert a salutary influence on the hearts and souls of +other adventurers and promotors of colonization. As has been well +said:<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> "a halo of real enthusiasm illumines this foolish founder of +the greatest colonial empire in the world, and where a hero leads, +even though it be to ruin, others are apt to follow with enthusiasm, +for tragedies such as these attract by their dignity more than they +deter." More particularly, Gilbert's voyage is of great interest, +because we may reasonably associate him with the colonial ideas of his +greater half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh. The slow and difficult +process was beginning which was to make Newfoundland a permanent +settlement instead of the occasional resort of migratory fishermen.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Rogers, <i>op. cit.</i>, pp. 18-19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> The name Labrador is derived from the Portuguese word +"llavrador," which means a yeoman farmer. The name was at first given +to Greenland, and was afterwards transferred to the peninsula on the +assumption that it was part of the same territory as Greenland. The +origin of the name itself is due to the fact that the first +announcement of having seen Greenland was a farmer ("llavrador") from +the Azores.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Compare such names of places as Frenchman's Arm, Harbour +Breton, Cape Breton, Spaniard's Bay, Biscay Bay, Portugal Cove, Cape +Race, Port-aux-Basques, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Cf.</i> Purchas, "Pilgrims," vol. xiv. pp. 304-5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Hakluyt, "Principal Navigations," vol. viii. p. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Hakluyt, <i>op. cit.</i>, vol. iii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>Cf.</i> J. Latimer, "History of the Society of Merchant +Venturers of Bristol" (1903).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> "A report of the voyage and successe thereof, attempted +in the yeere of our Lord 1583 by Sir Humfrey Gilbert Knight, with +other gentlemen assisting him in that action, intended to discover and +to plant Christian inhabitants in place convenient, upon those large +and ample countreys extended Northward from the cape of Florida, lying +under very temperate climes, esteemed fertile and rich in minerals, +yet not in the actuall possession of any Christian prince, written by +M. Edward Haie gentleman, and principall actour in the same voyage, +who alone continued unto the end, and by God's speciall assistance +returned home with his retinue safe and entire." See Hakluyt (ed. +1904), vol. viii. pp. 34 seq.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Rogers, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 40.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER IV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>EARLY HISTORY (<i>continued</i>). <br />BEGINNING OF A PERFECT ENGLISH COLONY</h4> +<br /> + +<p>We have seen that many nations shared in the profits of the +Newfoundland trade, but the English and French soon distanced all +other competitors. The explanation lies in the conflicting interests +which these two great and diffusive Powers were gradually establishing +on the American mainland. It is worth while anticipating a little in +order to gain some landmarks. In 1609 the colonization of Virginia +began in earnest; a few years later sailed the Pilgrim Fathers in the +<i>Mayflower</i>, to found New England. In 1632 Lord Baltimore founded +Maryland, to be a refuge for English Roman Catholics. Meanwhile, +France had not been idle in the great northern continent. The intrepid +Champlain trod boldly in the perilous footsteps of Cartier, and Port +Royal was founded in 1604, Quebec in 1608. Later still came the +splendid adventure of La Salle, who forced his way—a seventeenth +century Marchand—from the sources of the Mississippi to the Gulf of +Mexico, thus threatening to cut off the English settlers from +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>expansion to the west. A glance at the map will reveal the immense +strategic importance of Newfoundland to two Powers with the +possessions and claims indicated above. No doubt a consciousness of +deeper differences underlay the keenness of commercial rivalry.</p> + +<p>The hardy sailors, mainly from the west country, who carried on the +trade for England, came when the season began, and sailed away with +its close, returning in the following year to the portion of the beach +which each crew had pegged out for its own operations. A feeling of +proprietorship soon sprang from uninterrupted user, and signs of +jealousy appeared of any attempt at permanent settlement. This local +feeling, combining with interested influence at home, did much to +stunt the growth of the colony; the old colonization theory inherited +from Spain was still powerful, for the American Revolution had not yet +revealed the handwriting on the wall.</p> + +<p>In 1585 English vessels and sailors were seized in Spanish waters +under the pretext of a general arrest. Accordingly, by way of reprisal +Gilbert's plan of 1577 (which has already been referred to) was +revived by Walsingham, and Sir Walter Raleigh, then vice-admiral of +the western counties, was instructed to despatch vessels for the +purpose of intercepting Spanish fishermen proceeding to the +Newfoundland waters. A flotilla under the command of Sir Barnard Drake +(cousin of Sir <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>Francis) sailed to Newfoundland, and took a +considerable number of Spanish and Portuguese prizes and prisoners. +The disaster to the Spanish Armada in 1588 was a drastic blow to +Spanish power at sea, a signal for England's maritime ascendancy, and +an impetus to more rational, consistent, and practical methods of +colonization, in which great Companies and great fleets +participated—fleets that prepared the way for the establishment and +development of our incomparable Navy, the mighty bulwark of our +Empire. The turning-point at the close of the sixteenth century is +thus indicated by Mr Rogers: "Large creative ideals, the usual +delusions about Cathay, gold, and silver, and a desire to retaliate +against Spain, inspired both Raleigh's and Gilbert's efforts; and +after their failures the history of colonization turned over a new +leaf. There were no more colonies founded in anger, the old delusions +about Cathay and gold and silver melted into thin air, and the large +Elizabethan ideals were accompanied by small projects, which after a +time dimmed and obscured them."<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> With James I. and the wise +influence of Bacon came an increased interest in the "plantations," +and God's silly vassal (as a justly irritated divine called the King +to his face) does not suffer in this respect from a comparison with +his contemporaries.</p> + +<p>After the colonization of Virginia and Maine had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>begun, Sir John +Popham, who had done much to set on foot the schemes relative to these +American settlements, recollecting the attempts that had been made to +colonize Newfoundland, suggested to the merchant adventurers of +Bristol that they should make new efforts to establish colonies on the +island. The King's support having been promised, funds were raised, +and a royal charter was granted to a company on April 27th, 1610, +designated "The Treasurer and the Company of Adventurers and Planters +of the City of London and Bristol for the Colony or Plantations in +Newfoundland." London and the West of England were thus associated, as +they had been in the Virginian Company of 1606. There were forty-six +members, including the Earl of Northampton, Sir Francis Bacon, Thomas +Aldworth, Mayor of Bristol, John Guy and Philip Guy of Bristol; and +the territory granted to them comprised the lands from Cape St. Mary +to Cape Bonavista. The same year John Guy, the first Governor, led out +the first colony to Newfoundland, landed at Conception Bay, and +selected for his capital Cuper's Cove (Port de Grave). Guy and his +companions then built a fort, a dwelling-house, a workshop, and a +boat, sowed corn, and made preparations for the winter. Next fishing +ordinances were issued by the Governor. "That struck the first note of +a conflict which was to last for 150 years, and of which the echoes +may yet be heard. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>fishermen, merchants, and seamen who flocked to +the coast for the fishing season vehemently resented anything which +might seem to threaten their turbulent lawlessness, and the great +merchants in England, who were profiting by the fisheries, were +jealous lest the planters should in some way interfere with their +operations; but, for a time, the planters had sufficient influence +through the patentees in England to maintain themselves."<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> After a +sojourn of six summers—though only three winters—in Newfoundland, +Guy returned to Bristol, and spent the remainder of his life there in +his aldermanic dignity.</p> + +<p>He was succeeded (1615) in the Governorship by Captain John Mason who, +together with Sir Ferdinando Gorges, founded New Hampshire and Maine. +Mason stayed six years in the island; he explored it, prepared a map +of it, encouraged the growth of corn successfully, and with less +success endeavoured to establish commercial intercourse with the Red +Indians.</p> + +<p>In 1618 appeared the "Briefe discourse of the New-found-land by +Captain John Mason." After a discerning account of the attractions of +his theme, the writer concludes:</p> + +<p>"I might hear further discourse of our discoveries ... but these may +suffice as <i>verbum <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>sapienti</i>; being of sufficient trueth to remouve +errours ... also to take away malicious and scandelous speeches of +maligne persons, who out of envy to God and good actions (instructed +by their father the Devill) have sought to despoil it of the dewe and +blamish the good name thereof."</p> + +<p>Disorders having occurred after Mason's arrival, Sir Richard +Whitbourne, an Exmouth sea-captain who had had many years fishing +experience in the Newfoundland waters, was despatched to investigate +the disputes between the settlers and the fishermen. He reported that +250 sail of English fishermen, and 400 of "French, Portugals, and +Biscaines" resorted to the coast. His mission failed, owing to the +dilatory nature of the inquiry and the difficulties in getting the +contesting parties to attend, as they were in scattered places. Then +the merchants, having an eye to their own profit, proceeded to divide +the occupied territory into a number of shares, which the recipients +afterwards resold.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> "The colony from time to time shed portions of +itself, division led to sub-division, and new characters appeared upon +the scene."<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> Other companies were thus formed, charters granted, +and settlements made, most of which were confined to the peninsula of +Avalon. With these enterprises several distinguished names were +connected: for example, Sir William Vaughan, who sent out colonists in +1617 and 1618: Henry <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>Cary, Lord Falkland, who bought land on the east +coast, called it South Falkland, despatched a number of emigrants, but +did not himself visit the island; Sir George Calvert, a leading Roman +Catholic, who took out co-religionists.</p> + +<p>In 1627 Sir George Calvert, better known as Lord Baltimore, was +granted by charter the fancifully named Province of Avalon (after +Avalon in Somersetshire), which embraced a considerable portion of the +island's area. Calvert established himself at Ferryland—the name +being a corruption of Verulam, so called after the great +Chancellor—and stayed only long enough to infuse a tenacious Roman +Catholic strain into the island. Finding the climate too cold, +however, he applied for a more southerly colony for himself and forty +companions. In reply, the King said that the climate was not too cold, +but that Sir George Calvert was too soft, and had better return home. +But he had in the meantime transferred himself and his forty followers +to the milder climes of the south, and there established Maryland, +whose capital, Baltimore, was named after the founder's family title. +Perhaps the turbulence of his surroundings, and the troubles with the +French, were not to his taste. Law and order were indeed far to seek, +and there were neither civil tribunals nor military forces. We may +suppose that the "Fishing Admirals," authorized by the Star Chamber +and confirmed in their authority by 10 and 11 William <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>III., c. 25, +had already asserted a <i>de facto</i> jurisdiction on the spot, for it is +hardly credible that the mere wantonness of legislative invention can +have produced such a tribunal. To anticipate for a moment: the Act +provided that the master of the first ship arriving from England with +the season should be admiral of the harbour; to the masters of the +second and third in order were given the titles of vice-admiral and +rear-admiral. To this tribunal were committed fishing disputes in +general, and the maintenance of peace among sailors and fishermen. It +may be supposed that these rough sailors were both corrupt and +inefficient. "I must be a pretty sort of a judge if I could not do +justice to myself," said one west country sailor, when charged with +delivering an interested judgment. At the close of the season the +judges disappeared, together with their cargoes of blubber and cod.</p> + +<p>In spite of all these drawbacks the island was gradually increasing in +reputation. Writers, as well as returned "planters" and visitors, did +much to make it known. Thus Sir Richard Whitbourne, to whom reference +has already been made, wrote in his "Discourse of Newfoundland" +(1622): "Divers worshipful citizens of the City of Bristol have +undertaken to plant a large circuit of that country, and they have +maintained a Colony of his Majesties subjects there any time those +five years who have builded there faire houses, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>done many other +good services, who live there very pleasantly, and they are well +pleased to entertaine upon fit conditions such as wilbe Adventurers +with them." And he quotes from a letter from Captain Wynne of August +17th, 1622: "At the Bristow Plantation there is as goodly rye now +growing as can be in any part of England; they are also well furnished +with swine, and a large breed of goates, fairer by farre than those +that were sent over at the first."</p> + +<p>In 1628 Robert Hayman, who accompanied the above-mentioned expedition +of 1610, published a book entitled "Quodlibels, lately come over from +New Britaniola, Old Newfound-Land," etc. Among the "epigrams" are a +number of verses, in which he pays a tribute to leading North American +colonizers, sets out the advantages offered by the new colony, and +makes many apt and wise observations regarding colonization. The +reader will no doubt welcome a few passages, which he may regard—to +use Livy's phrase—as "deverticula amoena" in this account of our +subject.</p> + +<p><i>To the Worshippful Captaine John Mason, who did wisely and worthily +governe there divers yeeres.</i></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The aire in Newfound-land is wholesome, good;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The fire, as sweet as any made of wood;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The waters, very rich, both salt and fresh;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The earth more rich, you know it is no lesse<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where all are good, fire, water, earth, and aire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What man made of these foure would not live there?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><i>To all those worthy women, who have any desire to live in +Newfound-land.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sweet creatures, did you truely understand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The pleasant life you'd live in Newfound-land,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You would with teares desire to be brought thither:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I wish you, when you goe, faire wind, faire weather:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For if you with the passage can dispence [= bear]<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When you are there, I know you'll ne'r come thence.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><i>In praise of my Newfound-land.</i></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Did some know what contentment I found there,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alwayes enough, most times somewhat to spare.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With little paines, lesse toyle, and lesser care,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Exempt from tanings, ill newes, lawing, feare....<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><i>To the first Planters of Newfound-land.</i></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What ayme you at in your plantation?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sought you the honour of our nation?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or did you hope to raise your owne renowne?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or else to adde a kingdome to a crowne?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or Christ's true doctrine for to propagate?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or drawe salvages to a blessed state?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or our o're peopled kingdome to relieve?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or shew poore men where they may richly live?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or poore mens children godly to maintaine?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or aym'd you at your owne sweete private gaine?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><i>To some discreet people who thinke anybody good enough for a +plantation.</i></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When you doe see an idle, lewd, young man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You say hee's fit for our plantation.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Knowing your selfe to be riche, sober, wise<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You set your owne worth at an higher price.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I say, such men as you are, were more fit,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And most convenient for first peopling it:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such men as you would quickly profit here:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lewd, lazy lubbers, want wit, grace, and care.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><i>To the famous, wise and learned sisters, the two Universities of +England, Oxford and Cambridge.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Send forth your sons unto our new plantation;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet send such as are holy, wise, and able.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The same writer submitted to Charles I. a remarkable "proposition of +profitt and honour," in which he unsuccessfully called for the King's +help and patronage in regard to the colonization of the island.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>In 1637 the Commissioners of Foreign Plantations, who had been +appointed three years before, resolved that the old colonial grants +had lapsed, and transferred them to new patentees, prescribing, under +the new fishing rules made by the Star Chamber (1634), one system and +area of control for settlers, and another for fishermen, and +restricting their respective activities. The first Governor under this +régime was Sir David Kirke, who established himself at Ferryland +(1638) with a number of settlers variously estimated at from thirty to +one hundred persons. His charter was a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>liberal one, embracing the +whole island, and was the reward of his gallantry in the capture of +Quebec. He introduced the practice of levying rent, imposing licence +fees, and exacting an excise of 5 per 120 fish on alien fishermen. The +convulsions of the Civil War were felt even in Newfoundland, and Kirke +paid for his Royalism by the loss, under the Commonwealth, of his +noble possession (1651).</p> + +<p>What has been described as a period of repression in the history of +Newfoundland began with the reign of Charles I. and continued to the +end of the eighteenth century. As a recent writer observes: "In the +fairy story it is the youngest sister, but the eldest sister is the +Cinderella of colonial history. If Newfoundland had experienced only +the healthful neglect under which the other colonies prospered, she +too would have grown into vigorous life. But a strong and influential +class in England was interested in harassing the settlers, in +depreciating the resources of the island, and in throwing every +obstacle in the way of permanent settlement. This policy came in with +Charles I. and continued down to the very commencement of the +nineteenth century. Captain Mason, Sir William Vaughan, and Captain +Whitbourne had written favourably of the island; but from their day +down to 1842, when Sir Richard Bonnycastle wrote his book, every +writer described it as barren; in summer gloomy with perpetual fog, +and in winter given over to excessive cold and blinding snowstorms. +The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>west country people of England, generation after generation, drew +from the fisheries of Newfoundland enormous profits, upon which +prosperous mercantile establishments and noble families were built up +and sustained in England. They considered and called them 'their' +fisheries, and their interests required that there should be no +resident population to compete in their monopoly, to share the best +fishing rooms, and to grow up to be dangerous rivals in foreign +markets. The influence of this class upon the government was +incessantly exercised in framing regulations and laws to choke the +growth of the colony.</p> + +<p>"The confused annals of this period can only be understood by +remembering the existence of two antagonistic parties, the 'planters' +and inhabitants on the one hand, who, being settled there, needed the +protection of a government and police, with administration of justice; +and the 'adventurers' or merchants on the other, who, originally +carrying on the fishery from England, and visiting the island only for +the season, needed no such protection for themselves, and had various +reasons for preventing its being afforded to the others.</p> + +<p>"If the Mother Country had only forgotten the island it would have +prospered; but in 1633 the English merchants succeeded in procuring +from the Star Chamber rules and regulations drawn solely to advance +their own private interests, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>these rules were supplemented always +in the same direction, by the same oppressive agency."<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> + +<p>At this time the resident population of the island cannot have +exceeded a few hundreds, and every step was adopted which a vicious +political economy could suggest to keep the numbers down. It was made +penal for a settler to dwell within six miles of the shore, for a +planter to cut down wood or plant within six miles from the shore, for +any planter or inhabitant to take up the best positions in the +harbours before the arrival of the fishing-fleet in the spring; and +every master who sailed with a crew to Newfoundland was under +bond—lest here and there a permanent settler should filter +through—to return with his exact complement of hands. Their Lordships +of the Committee of Trade and Plantations were not superior to the +prejudices of the day, and they resolved in 1675, "That all +plantations in Newfoundland should be discouraged ... or that the +western charter should from time to time be put in execution; by which +charter all planters were forbid to inhabit within six miles of the +shore from Cape Race to Cape Bonavista." Equally considerate and +attentive were the efforts of the home country to cope with crime in +the island. The Star Chamber ingeniously provided that persons charged +with homicide, or with stealing to the value of 40s., should be +brought home and submitted to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>judicial experience of the Mayors +of Southampton, Weymouth, and other specified towns. The +discrimination may also be admired which prohibited stealing <i>from the +fishing nets</i>. It must be supposed that time hung heavily on the hands +of the settlers in the intervals of the fishing, for we find at the +period much time and industry wasted on petitions to the Committee of +Trade, who possibly treated them as Grenville's predecessors are said +to have treated the American despatches. The Board of Trade, which +inherited the duties and the incompetence of the Committee, proved +more complaisant, and was indeed prepared to tolerate permanent +settlers to the number of one thousand. A struggle was imminent, if +only they had known it, when the presence of a few thousand resolute +settlers in Newfoundland would be of high moment to the interests of +England.</p> + +<p>The life of such as were allowed to remain must have been wild and +strange, alternating between the populous alacrity of the fishing +season and the hand to mouth struggle of the long winter months. +Perhaps the amenities of life were not missed because they can hardly +have been known; but the restrictions on building and the absence of +local authority must early have given rise to bitterness and +discontent. Certainly we must admire the constancy of men who were +content to live, a solitary cluster, on the coast, with an unexplored +interior and savage inhabitants behind <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>them, and with no more secure +prospect of material progress than a process of undetected squatting +on the forbidden ground.</p> + +<hr style='width: 25%; margin-top: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1.5em;' /> + +<p>With regard to the plantations that have just been mentioned, +reference may be conveniently made here by way of parenthesis to the +survival in Newfoundland of certain terminology and customs, which +form an interesting connecting-link between the early enterprises and +modern usage and practice. In the words of a writer<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> fully +conversant with the present conditions of the island: "Because of its +early 'plantations,' the word 'planter' is still current in the +insular vocabulary, and the 'supplying system' still prevails, the +solitary links which connect with these bygone days. A 'planter' in +Newfoundland parlance is a fish trader on a moderate scale, the +middleman between the merchant, who ships the cod to market and the +toiler who hauls it from the water. 'Plantations' are yet interwoven +with local tradition, and show on ancient maps and charts. The tenure +of some has never been broken; the names and locations of others are +perpetuated in the existing fishing hamlets which dot the shore line. +Under the 'supplying system' the merchants and planters 'supply' the +fisherfolk each spring with all the essentials for their adequate +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>prosecution of the industry, and when the season ends, take over their +produce against the advances, made them six months before. The +'merchants' are the descendants of the early 'merchant adventurers' +who exploited the new-found Colony."</p> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>Op. cit.</i>, p. 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Stanford's "Compendium of Geography and Travel" (new +issue): North America: vol. i. Canada and Newfoundland. Edited by H.M. +Ami (London, 1915), p. 1009.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> See Rogers, <i>op. cit.</i>, pp. 59 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 59.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> See article by G.C. Moore Smith, in "English Historical +Review," vol. xxxiii. (1918), pp. 31 <i>seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Stanford's "Compendium," pp. 1010, 1011.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> P.T. M'Grath, "Newfoundland in 1911" (London, 1911), p. +46.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER V<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE</h4> +<br /> + +<p>In the reign of Charles I. a duty of five per cent. had been imposed +on the produce of all foreign vessels engaged in the Newfoundland +trade. Twenty-five years later the French under Du Mont, then +proceeding to Quebec with a contingent of soldiers and colonists, +established a settlement at Placentia, on the southern coast, +fortified it, and made it the seat of a resident Governor. They +continued, however, to pay the duty in recognition of English +sovereignty. Charles II. abolished the duty to oblige his French +patron, and with the abolition began the history of French aggression. +Very soon after their establishment the French settlers repudiated +England's sovereignty over the south parts of Newfoundland, and from +time to time strengthened their colony by bringing over bands of +French immigrants. It was clear to many that the extension of French +power in Canada and Newfoundland was a serious menace to the English +fisheries and settlements: leading statesmen, however, refused to +recognize the danger, and believed that if any really existed, the +system <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>of convoys would obviate it. The convoy-captains, enlarging +the sphere of their regular activities, saved the colony, and during +their intermittent visits took upon themselves the functions of +governors, and effectually prevented the diffusion of anarchy. The +Governors of the French colony made their presence felt more than the +English settlers could tolerate; they interfered with them unduly, +engaged in privateering expeditions and land forays against them, +destroyed their property, and burned down their houses. Indeed, more +than one French Governor conceived the notion, with the sanction of +the King of France, of putting an end entirely to English colonization +in the island. "The encroachments of the French," said William III., +in his Declaration of War, "on His Majesty's subjects trading and +fishing there, had been more like the invasions of an enemy than +becoming friends, who enjoyed the advantages of that trade only by +permission." With the outbreak of war came in sharp succession the +attacks of Chevalier Vesmond, and of Burrill, beneath the latter of +which all the island but Bonavista and Carbonier succumbed.</p> + +<p>The Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 was signed before the French had been +dislodged. Under its terms the invaders surrendered their conquests +and retired to the territory in the south-west, of which they were in +occupation when the war began. The anomaly of their claims, passed +over in silence by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>the Treaty, was certain to be the source of +mischief. In the language of Mr Pedley, "Over a territory of some 200 +miles in extent, belonging to the British sovereignty, they had built +up imperceptibly an almost undisputed dominion." Five years after the +Peace of Ryswick war broke out again. An English squadron under +Admiral Sir John Leake destroyed a number of French fishing-vessels +between St. Pierre and Trepassey (1702), and in the following year +Admiral Graydon failed to reduce Placentia, owing to sickness, bad +weather, as well as want of resolution. In January 1705 the French in +retaliation surprised and captured St. John's. From this point they +overran the English settlements, Carbonier once again weathering the +storm, and abandoned themselves to depredation and devastation, as +they had done in the conflict a few years before.</p> + +<p>The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 found the French still in possession. +The provisions of this Treaty require careful consideration. Full +sovereignty over the whole of Newfoundland and the neighbouring +islands was declared to belong to England. Placentia was to be handed +over. Article XIII. of the Treaty contains the following provisions:</p> + +<p>"Nor shall the most Christian King, his heir and successors or any of +their subjects, at any time hereafter lay claim to any right to the +said island.... Moreover, it shall not be lawful for the subjects of +France to fortify any place in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>the said island of Newfoundland, or to +erect any buildings there, besides <i>stages made of boards, and huts +necessary and useful for drying of fish</i>, or to resort to the said +island beyond the time necessary for fishing and drying of fish. But +it shall be allowed to the subjects of France to catch fish and to dry +them on land in that part only which stretches ... from Cape Bonavista +to the northern part of the said island from thence by the western +side as far as Cape Riche."</p> + +<p>The fishing concession to France herein contained was wholly +inexcusable. The latter country was in no position to refuse terms, +and an absolute reservation of all fishing rights should have been +insisted on in the interests of the colony. A culpable Ministry, +short-sightedly regarding Newfoundland as little more than a +fishing-station, chose rather to make a graceful concession, and we +inherited the consequences in our Newfoundland Fisheries controversy +with France, which lasted for nearly two centuries. However, the half +century following the Treaty of Utrecht—an important turning-point in +the history of the colony—marks a period of progress; and after +another Anglo-French conflict, from which the English emerged +victorious, we find in the ensuing half century the establishment of a +definite policy of colonial permanence.</p> + +<p>The abuses connected with the admirals' jurisdiction had been +partially corrected by the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>authority, on appeal from them, of the +King's commanders stationed off the island. Still, the evils were very +real, and extorted recognition even from the gang of west country +monopolists who strangled for so long the growth of the island. We +find a recommendation offered by them to the Board of Trade with +astounding assurance, that the 3000 odd men, women, and children, who +by this time composed the population of Newfoundland, "should be +encouraged to settle in Nova Scotia—as they might be of service +there, where inhabitants were wanted."</p> + +<p>The colonists themselves had other and better remedies. A +spontaneously elected Assembly passed ordinances which attest the +sincerity of the general desire for reform. In 1728 the informing zeal +of Lord Vere Beauclerk elicited a decisive step from the Board of +Trade, and Captain Henry Osborne was appointed the first Governor of +Newfoundland (1729), with authority to appoint justices of the peace. +Even at such a moment the cloven hoof of prejudice peeped through, and +Osborne and his justices were explicitly warned to interfere in no way +with the privileges of the admirals, as defined by 10 and 11 William +III. Governor Osborne addressed himself to his duties with great +energy. He appointed justices and constables, carved the island into +districts, and erected prisons and stocks. His influence was weakened +by his departure when the season ended, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>for till the nineteenth +century the governors, like the fish, were migratory. A tedious +quarrel followed between the justices and the admirals as to the +limits of their respective jurisdictions; the admirals, whose wits +seem to have been sharpened by judicial practice, insisting that their +own authority was derived from statute, whereas that of the justices +merely rested upon an Order in Council.</p> + +<p>In 1749 the great sailor Rodney, then a commander in the Navy, was +appointed Governor. He distinguished himself by a humane consideration +for the interests of the fishing servants. His answer to a petition +from the merchants for permission to lower the contract rate of wages, +in view of the badness of the season, has often been quoted, and is +pleasant to read:</p> + +<p>"Mr Drake and myself would be glad to ease the merchants in all that +lay in our power, but we are by no means capable of acting as desired, +to serve any people whatever. I have only one question to ask, namely: +'Had the season been good in proportion as it has proved bad, would +the merchants or boat-keepers have raised the men's wages?'"</p> + +<p>In 1750 came another advance. Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer were +appointed for the island; that is to say, persons authorized to "hear +and determine" on capital felonies committed in Newfoundland. This +change ended the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>costly farce by which such persons were sent to +England for trial. Seven years of development followed, to be broken +by the long struggle between England and France, which the splendid +genius of Pitt inspired and directed. He not only "conquered America +in Europe" by the prodigal carelessness with which he poured subsidies +into the treasury of Prussia, but he conceived and delivered in +America itself a death-blow to French ambition. In 1758 Amherst and +Wolfe, with a fleet of 150 vessels, were sent to attack Cape Breton, +and after assaulting Louisbourg, the capital, received the submission +of the island. In 1759 came General Wolfe's night assault on Quebec, +and the unforgettable battle in which he lost his life. The only +French success was gained at the expense of Newfoundland, for St. +John's surrendered to an adventurous French expedition under Count +d'Haussonville in June 1762. Admiral Lord Graves, the Governor, who +was on his voyage from England, received the news in time to prevent +him from landing. He vigorously concerted a plan of attack with +Admiral Lord Colville, who was in command at Halifax, and after a +lively investment the French garrison, numbering 700 or 800 strong +surrendered on terms (September 20th, 1762), but the French Navy +managed to escape, thanks to a fog.</p> + +<p>The Treaty of Paris in 1763 brought the war to an end. Its course had +afforded one more <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>opportunity of simplifying the condition of the +fishing industry. The English Ministry, under the nerveless guidance +of Lord Bute, omitted to seize it, and the Newfoundland clauses of the +Treaty of Utrecht (which had granted to the French fishery and drying +rights on the coasts between Cape Bonavista and Point Rich) were +confirmed, notwithstanding the fact that the English settlers had +extended their occupation as far north as Twillingate, and French +fishermen had not for three decades previously been further south than +Fleur-de-Lys and White Bay. One clear, protesting voice was heard. "I +contended several times in vain," said Pitt, "for the whole exclusive +fishery, but I was overruled—I repeat, I was overruled, not by the +foreign enemy, but by another enemy."</p> + +<p>The House of Commons, under George III., was a corrupt and discredited +body; and the Treaty of Paris was affirmed by 319 votes to 65. It had +fallen to the lot of Governor Palliser—a fine reactionary in the view +he took of his charge—to frame local orders for carrying out the +provisions of the Treaty of Paris. His orders were clear and +unambiguous. The French right of fishing within the permitted area was +declared to be concurrent. The English jurisdiction was affirmed +except in disputes between French subjects.</p> + +<p>Between the capture of French America and the revolt of the older +English colonies a few <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>years of peace intervened. Cook, the great +discoverer, who had served under Lord Graves in Newfoundland in 1762, +spent the four years from 1763 to 1767 in an invaluable survey of the +island, wherein he showed for the first time its correct shape, and +glancing inland foretold for it a great mining future. The annexation +of Labrador, affected by the proclamation of October 7th, 1763, added +to the area and importance of the colony.</p> + +<p>It would be unreasonable to look for religious enlightenment in the +early history of Newfoundland. "Coelum non animum mutant qui trans +mare currunt": there was little tolerance in the England of the +eighteenth century, and even the New England settlers had shamed their +faith by outrages on the Quakers. In Newfoundland religious feeling +ran high, as it has so often done when Roman Catholics and Protestants +live side by side. The Roman Catholic element in Newfoundland, though +a minority, was considerable in numbers: for the sorrows of Ireland +had brought many of her children from one sorely tried island to +another. The Protestant majority, forgetting the tradition of Lord +Baltimore, abused their supremacy. Heavy fines were inflicted on +priests for holding services, and the scenes of their ministrations +were burned to the ground. Mr Pedley quotes a letter, written by +Governor Dorrell, to a bench of magistrates in 1762:</p> + +<p>"Whereas I am informed that a Roman Catholic <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>priest is at this time +in Harbour Grace, and that he publicly read Mass, which is contrary to +law, and against the peace of our Sovereign Lord the King; you are +hereby required and directed, on the receipt of this, to cause the +said priest to be taken into custody, and sent round to this place. In +this you are not to fail."</p> + +<p>Mr Pedley quotes a letter from Governor Bonfoy to certain justices, +which grimly illustrates the prevalence of crime in the eighteenth +century:</p> + +<p>"Whereas I think, for the good of this island in general, that gallows +should be erected in the several districts, in order to deter from +their robberies a parcel of villains, who think that they can do what +they please with impunity.... You are, therefore, hereby required and +directed to cause gallows to be erected in the most public places in +your several districts, and cause all such persons as are guilty of +robbery, felony, or the like crimes, to be sent round to this place in +order to take their trial at the annual assizes held here, as I am +determined to proceed against all such with the utmost severity of the +law. Given under my hand at St. John's, the 12th of October, 1754."</p> + +<p>Newfoundland was naturally affected by the rebellion of the American +colonies. Of these Montcalm, in 1758, had written with rare insight: +"The several advices I daily receive assure me England will one day +lose her colonies. As to the English colonies, one essential point +should <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>be known: it is, that they are never taxed. The Mother Country +should have taxed them from the foundation; I have certain advice that +all the colonies would take fire at being taxed now."<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> The +expulsion of the French from America had already lessened the +dependence of the colonies upon the home country, when the House of +Commons directed its corrupt and blighting attention to the English +colonial system. The Stamp Act was passed in 1764, and repealed in +1766. In 1768 came Charles Townshend's mischievous duty on tea; and +the American Congress met at Lexington in 1774. At this time the +resident population of Newfoundland amounted to over 12,000<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> and it +was soon realized that the colony would be gravely affected by the +outbreak of war. Congress at once prohibited all trade with the +English colonies. The seriousness of this blow was extreme, for +Newfoundland was largely dependent upon the American trade for the +necessaries of life. Want and tempest worked together for ill, and the +year 1775 is one of the blackest in the history of the colony. The +treaty with France in 1778 brought to the American colonists a success +which their resources and, it must be added, their resolution could +hardly have won alone, and once more exposed Newfoundland to European +attacks. It <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>was protected by the energy and resource of Governor +Montague.</p> + +<p>In 1775 came the very important Act known as Palliser's Act. This +statute was based on the old selfish and restrictive view that +Newfoundland should be a training ground for the Navy, and a place of +trade, not a permanent settlement. Bounties were given to the fishing +industry, and stringent measures were provided to ensure that masters +trading to the island should return with undiminished crews. The +privilege of drying fish was to be enjoyed only by such of the King's +subjects as sailed to Newfoundland from Great Britain, or from one of +the British dominions in Europe.</p> + +<p>An interesting light upon the economic condition of the colony is +thrown by the following figures:</p> + +<br /> + +<div style="margin-left: 10%;"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="60%" summary="Salaries"> + <tr> + <td colspan="4" style="padding-bottom: .5em;">Estimate of the sums necessary to pay the salaries of the Governor and +Civil Officers in the Island of Newfoundland from April 1st, 1787, to +April 1st, 1788:</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td width="80%" class="tdl"> </td> + <td width="10%" class="tdr">£</td> + <td width="5%" class="tdr">s.</td> + <td width="5%" class="tdr">d.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Salary of the Governor</td> + <td class="tdr">500</td> + <td class="tdr">0</td> + <td class="tdr">0</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The Governor's Secretary</td> + <td class="tdr">182</td> + <td class="tdr">10</td> + <td class="tdr">0</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The Judge of the Admiralty</td> + <td class="tdr">200</td> + <td class="tdr">0</td> + <td class="tdr">0</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The Naval Officer</td> + <td class="tdr">100</td> + <td class="tdr">0</td> + <td class="tdr">0</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">The Agent</td> + <td class="tdr">100</td> + <td class="tdr">0</td> + <td class="tdr">0</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" style="padding-bottom: .25em;">On Account, for Fees on Receipt and Audit</td> + <td class="tdr" style="border-bottom: solid 1pt black; padding-bottom: .25em;">100</td> + <td class="tdr" style="border-bottom: solid 1pt black; padding-bottom: .25em;">0</td> + <td class="tdr" style="border-bottom: solid 1pt black; padding-bottom: .25em;">0</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" style="padding-top: .25em; padding-bottom: .25em;"> </td> + <td class="tdr" style="border-top: solid 1pt black; padding-top: .25em; border-bottom: solid 2pt black; padding-bottom: .25em;">£1,182</td> + <td class="tdr" style="border-top: solid 1pt black; padding-top: .25em; border-bottom: solid 2pt black; padding-bottom: .25em;">10</td> + <td class="tdr" style="border-top: solid 1pt black; padding-top: .25em; border-bottom: solid 2pt black; padding-bottom: .25em;">0</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>It will be of interest to give here a few figures as to the growth of +the English population in order to show that colonial developments +were proceeding in the right direction. "Residents grew apace, as the +increase of women and children from 612 in 1710 to 1,356 in 1738, and +to 2,508 in 1754 attested. Heads of families accounted for a third +more, so that in round numbers permanent residents were 800 in 1710, +1,800 in 1738, and 3,400 in 1754. The ship's crews of English ships, +for whose sake the older theorists taught that the fisheries primarily +existed, numbered 3,600 in 1738 and 4,500 in 1754, so that they +outnumbered residents, in the strictest sense of the word residents. +But if residents included all those who wintered on the island, they +outnumbered ship's crews during this half-century. On the other hand, +if passengers were added to ships' crews, the visitors outnumbered the +settlers, except when there were war scares....<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> Between 1764 and +1774 residents for the first time continuously outnumbered visitors. +During these years the winter residents, including male hangers-on as +well as settlers, averaged 12,340; and visitors, including +'passengers' as well as ships' crews, averaged 11,876; or excluding +male hangers-on from the one side and passengers from the other side, +residents averaged 5,660 and visitors 5,435. Figures no longer yielded +an uncertain sound. The Rubicon was only just <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>crossed, but was +indisputably and irrevocably crossed. Thenceforth the living-rooms +were larger than the corridors, and political arithmetic pointed at +the permanent occupants as the men of destiny. In 1764 the new tilt of +the balance struck the law officers of the Crown, who wrote that it +was 'disgraceful to suffer' the Act of 1699 'to remain in the Statute +Book' as circumstances had so much changed. This disproportion +increased; and the 12,000 inhabitants of 1764-74 swelled to 17,000 in +1792, 20,000 in 1804, and 52,000 in 1822, without any corresponding +increase on the part of those who appeared every spring and faded away +every autumn, like leaves or flowers."<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Quoted in Egerton's "History of British Colonial +Policy."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> But see the end of the present chapter in regard to the +character and fluctuations of the population.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> For example, in 1745, 1746, 1757.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Rogers, <i>op. cit.</i>, pp. 122-123, 137-138.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER VI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE ENGLISH COLONIAL SYSTEM AND ITS RESULTS</h4> +<br /> + +<p>The War of American Independence forms a convenient point at which to +examine for a moment in passing the English colonial system, of which +Newfoundland was in some sense a victim. It may then at once be stated +that in the English view, as in the Spanish view, a "plantation" was +expected, directly or indirectly, to contribute to the wealth of the +Mother Country. If it contributed much, it was a good colony; if +little, its consequence was less. Hence the English legislation +throttling colonial manufacturers in the supposed interests of English +merchants, and confining colonial trade to English channels. Hence the +disregard, persistent and unashamed, of Adam Smith's immortal saying: +"To prohibit a great people from making all that they can of every +part of their own produce, or from employing their stock and industry +in the way that they judge most advantageous to themselves, is a +manifest violation of the most sacred rights of mankind." Long before +Smith, the wisest of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>Englishmen had sounded a clear note of warning +far in advance of his age. Bacon wrote in his essay on plantations: +"Let there be freedom from custom, till the plantation be of strength: +and not only freedom from custom, but freedom to carry their +commodities where they make their best of them, except there be some +special cause of caution."</p> + +<p>Any stick has been thought good enough to beat those who lost America, +but we must not suppress the little that may be urged on their behalf. +Here again may be cited the dispassionate opinion of Adam Smith: +"Though the policy of Great Britain with regard to the trade of her +colonies has been dictated by the same mercantile spirit as that of +other nations, it has, upon the whole, been less illiberal and +oppressive than that of any of them." To the same effect Mr Lecky: "It +is a gross ... misrepresentation to describe the commercial policy of +England as exceptionally tyrannical." In fact, the expense of +protecting Newfoundland and America against French attacks was serious +and constant. That the colonies owed contribution to that defence is +clear, for it would be involved in any other view that an American +enjoyed a natural right to be protected against France at the charges +of a Londoner. In the face of all this the colonies were conspicuously +and notoriously unable to agree upon any principle of allocating +grants. In this respect Newfoundland was no better than the American +colonies. "We should <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>be extremely concerned," wrote a merchant +officially consulted on the point, "to see any species of taxes +introduced into this island which would inevitably be burdensome and +inconvenient to the trade and fishing in general, and we trust that in +the wisdom of His Majesty's Ministers no such innovation will take +place."</p> + +<p>The attempt, then, to tax from home was defensible, and Chatham was +clearly wrong in denying its legality. On the other hand, to persevere +in the attempt was the folly of weakness, mistaking obstinacy for +strength.</p> + +<p>It must be remembered, as a partial extenuation of English selfishness +in Newfoundland, that the long arm of England was ever extended for +the colony's protection, and that the charges therefor were defrayed +by the English taxpayer. Hence the view followed, naturally but +unfortunately, that the island was an asset to be exploited +commercially in the interests of the home country.</p> + +<p>In 1783 the Treaty of Versailles revised the French rights conferred +by the Treaty of Utrecht. The French boundary was contracted from Cape +Bonavista to Cape St. John on the east coast, and was extended from +Point Riche to Cape Ray on the west. The whole subject of the French +claims will be examined in a separate chapter,<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> but a very +important undertaking set forth in the Treaty of Versailles must not +be omitted:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>"His Britannic Majesty ... that the fishermen of the two nations may +not give cause for daily quarrels, was pleased to engage that he would +take the most positive measures for preventing his subjects from +interrupting in any measure by their competition, the fishing of the +French during the temporary exercise thereof which is granted to them +upon the coasts of the island of Newfoundland, and that he would for +that purpose cause the permanent settlements which should be formed +there to be removed, and that he would give orders that the French +fishermen should not be incommoded in the cutting of wood, necessary +for the repair of their scaffolds, huts, and fishing boats."</p> + +<p>In the time of Governor Milbanke, in 1791, an Act of Parliament +tardily created "the Court of Civil Jurisdiction of our Lord the King +at St. John's in the island of Newfoundland," which Court was +empowered to try all civil cases except those relating to land, and +which usually began actions by the peremptory procedure of arresting +the defendant and attaching his goods. The following year a supreme +Court of Civil and Criminal Judicature was instituted which superseded +the Court erected the previous year, put an end to the authority of +the "fishing-admirals," of the Courts held in summer by surrogates +(naval commanders visiting the island) and of the Courts of Session +held in winter by local justices of the peace, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>and was empowered to +try all persons charged with criminal offences and determine civil +suits, including those relating to land, and to make arrest and +attachment in civil suits discretionary and alternative. The +jurisdiction of the Court was renewed annually, then triennially; and +John Reeves, to whose history all writers on Newfoundland owe so much, +was appointed the first Chief Justice; but he remained in the island +only till 1792, when he was succeeded by ex-surgeons, collectors of +customs, and merchants. In 1809 a perpetual Act was passed, which +purported to abolish definitely the diverse and sporadic +jurisdictions; but such is the force of old customs and practices that +it was not till 1824 that the old Session Courts, Courts of Surrogates +and of fishing-admirals were finally extinguished, and at the same +time two assistant judges were appointed to aid the Chief Justice, and +all three judges were to be English or Irish barristers. A Court of +Civil Jurisdiction was also created for Labrador. We may recall here +the observations of Chief Justice Reeves on the fishing-admirals: +"They are ever the servants of the merchants. Justice was not to be +expected from them; and a poor planter or inhabitant, who was +considered little better than a law-breaker in being such, had but a +small chance of justice in opposition to any great west-country +merchant. They considered that Newfoundland was theirs, and that all +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>planters were to be spoiled and devoured at their pleasure." It +must be recorded that this most just and necessary reform in judicial +administration was vainly but bitterly opposed by the merchants at +home.</p> + +<p>In 1793 came the war with revolutionary France, and Newfoundland was +once again in a bustle of defensive preparation. The Governor, +Vice-Admiral King, took possession of St. Pierre. The French, under +Admiral Richery, threatened St. John's, but desisted in face of the +vigour of the new Governor, Admiral Sir Richard Wallace (1796), who +raised volunteers, strengthened the forts, and prepared new batteries. +In 1797 the mutiny at the Nore broke out, provoked by real grievances. +As far off as Newfoundland the spirit of disaffection spread, and an +outbreak occurred on H.M.S. <i>Latona</i>, then lying in the harbour of St. +John's. It was quelled by the resolution of Captain Sothern; and +Governor Waldegrave (1797-1800), afterwards Lord Radstock, summoned +the mutineers before him and addressed them in the presence of the +Royal Newfoundland Regiment, whom they had tried to affect with +sedition. "I may venture to say," the Governor writes home, "my speech +was of much service." It was certainly of much vigour. "If I am to +judge from your conduct," he said, "I must think that the majority of +you are either villains or cowards. If the greater number of you are +against your officers, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>... I have a right to say that you are +traitors.... If there are only a few bad men among you, which you +pretend to be the case, I maintain that you are a set of dastardly +cowards, for suffering yourselves to be bullied by a few villains, who +wish for nothing better than to see us become the slaves of France.... +You were all eager for news and newspapers to see how your great +delegate, Parker"—the ringleader at the Nore—"was going on. I thank +God I have the satisfaction to inform you that he is hanged.... You +looked up to him as an example whilst he was in his glory. I recommend +you to look to his end as an example also.... I have now to tell you +that I have given orders to all your officers, that in case any +further signs of mutiny should appear among you, they are not to think +of confining the ringleaders, but to put them to death instantly; and, +what is still more, I have given orders to the officers commanding the +batteries, to burn the <i>Latona</i> with red-hot shot, in case you drive +me ... to that extremity. I know in this case the officers must perish +with you; but there is not one of them but is ready to sacrifice +himself for the good of his country.... And now go to church, and pray +God to inspire you with such sentiments as may acquire you the respect +and love of your countrymen in this world and eternal happiness in the +next."</p> + +<p>This speech, which was rescued from oblivion by the industry of Mr +Pedley, came clearly from a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>man of energy and resolution. In fact, +Governor Waldegrave proved himself to possess unusual resource and +vigour. He was the creator of the Newfoundland system of poor relief, +and he busied himself actively in the interests of religion. On the +latter subject it is pleasant to note a spirit of growing breadth in +the island. In particular, the loyal labours of the Roman Catholic +Bishop O'Donnell opened up a new era of tolerance for his followers. +To this Bishop was due the discovery, in 1802, of a plot among the +locally enlisted Royal Newfoundland Regiment, to loot St. John's and +then fly to the United States. The ringleaders were executed, and the +mutinous regiment was replaced by one from Halifax.</p> + +<p>The war with France was for the time being terminated by the Peace of +Amiens (1802), whereby the conquered territory was to be restored—so +that St. Pierre and Miguelon were returned to France; and her fishing +rights were renewed on the same basis as was laid down in the Treaty +of Utrecht.</p> + +<p>In 1802, by which time the population of the island amounted to about +twenty thousand persons, Governor Gambier (1802-1803), who was in +advance of his age in his views on government, as well as on the +education of the settlers, and the civilization of the Beothics, +proposed to Lord Hobart the establishment of a legislative power in +Newfoundland, similar to that which has been found <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>necessary to the +prosperity and good government of other parts of the British +dominions. The suggestion was treated as premature, and probably was +so in fact. That it should have been made at all shows how far we have +travelled from the swaddling clothes of monopoly. However this may be, +two important civilizing agencies were introduced in 1805 and 1806—a +regular post office, and a newspaper (the <i>Royal Gazette</i>).</p> + +<p>In 1810 began Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Duckworth's period of office, +which soon revealed a Governor of energy and intelligence. He +journeyed to the northern settlements and Labrador to learn the +condition and needs of the population; he tried to secure friendly +relations with the Red Indians of the country, and set up a hospital +in St. John's. Amongst other reforms he procured the passing of a +statute in 1811 (51 George III.) authorizing him to grant leases of +certain ships' rooms at St. John's then in public occupation. +Following up in this way the useful work of Governor Gower +(1804-1807), he used his leasing power to promote the building of +warehouses and wharves. The idea that the inhabitants of St. John's +had a right to make it habitable was slowly gaining ground. Duckworth +was an able and far-seeing man, and his report on the condition of the +island, furnished to the home authorities at the end of his +governorship, was a lucid and memorable document. His condemnation of +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>building restrictions paved the way for the fearless agitation of +Dr. William Carson. A distinguished medical graduate of Edinburgh, +Carson incurred the dislike of Governor Duckworth, and his successor, +Governor Keats, by his outspoken pamphlets. Indeed, there was nothing +equivocal in Carson's views:</p> + +<p>"The only remedy against the evils flowing from the present system +will be found in giving to the people, what they most ardently wish, a +civil Government, consisting of a resident Governor, a Senate House, +and House of Assembly."</p> + +<p>Hitherto the population had possessed no voice in the administration +of their own affairs. The Governors exercised an absolute power, which +to progressive minds appeared to be an indifferent and unnecessary +despotism. So far as Newfoundland affairs were concerned they almost +invariably adopted an ultra-conservative attitude, and were hostile to +proposals for amelioration called for in the changing circumstances of +the colony. Thus the demand for self-government became more and more +general.</p> + +<p>The Anglo-American War which began in 1812 ushered in a period of +great prosperity to Newfoundland. Fish were plentiful, prices good +beyond precedent, and wages high in proportion.</p> + +<p>The Great European War was terminated by the Battle of Waterloo on +1815, and peace was restored by the Treaty of Paris. Under the latter +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>the French regained the right of fishing on the banks and shores of +Newfoundland. The privileges of Americans to fish in British waters +were also enlarged. In favour of their own fishermen, both the French +and American governments then established a system of bounties, and by +imposing high duties prevented the importation of Newfoundland fish +into their own markets. Thus the Newfoundland fishermen were obliged +to compete with their rivals on very unequal terms.</p> + +<p>Governor Pickmore, who succeeded Governor Keats in 1816, was +confronted with a very difficult state of things. The high prices +which had ruled from 1812 to 1815 had attracted emigrants in large and +undesirable numbers. The commercial reaction and foreign competition, +aided by the bounties, hit the merchants hard, and in 1815 bankruptcy +trod fast on the heels of bankruptcy. In the following winter actual +starvation menaced the residents, and many owed their lives to the +generosity and energy of Captain David Buchan, commander of H.M.S. +<i>Pike</i>, who put his men on short rations for the relief of the +inhabitants. In an address of thanks, which was presented to him when +the crisis was past, his services were gratefully recorded:</p> + +<p>"At this distressing crisis you afforded us from His Majesty's store a +supply in aid of our then alarming and terrible wants. You then, with +patriotic feeling, placed the company of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>ship which you command +on reduced allowance, and yielded to the public distress every +alleviation which such means afforded."</p> + +<p>The lean years were still further saddened by the terrible fire of +1817, which left more than a thousand persons houseless, in the full +severity of winter. The wooden houses and narrow streets of St. John's +made resistance hopeless, when the flames had once gained a hold. It +was estimated that the fire caused a loss of £125,000. The wealthier +inhabitants and the home Government gave what relief was possible, and +in 1818 the crisis yielded before brighter prospects.</p> + +<p>Pickmore was the first Governor to reside continuously in the island +(where he also died), for his predecessors had sailed away with the +fishermen in October to reappear with the beginning of summer. In 1817 +a Select Committee of the House of Commons was specially appointed to +consider the situation of Newfoundland. The merchants, full as ever of +vicious political economy, had two remedies to propose for the +admitted distresses. One was the concession of bounties to place them +on a level with French and American competition; the other was the +removal of the population (then numbering 17,000) to Nova Scotia or +Canada. Determined to omit nothing which might make them the derision +of history, they added an emphatic opinion that agriculture could +never thrive on the island.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>On the appointment of Governor Pickmore, Lord Bathurst had given him +the following instructions:</p> + +<p>"As the colony has of late years, from the rapid increase of the +population, assumed a character totally different from that under +which it had been usual previously to consider it, I am most desirious +of receiving from you your opinion as to the propriety of introducing +any and what change into the system of government which has heretofore +prevailed."</p> + +<p>The seeds sown by Carson were beginning to bear fruit, and from 1821 +onwards the desire for local government in the island grew +continuously stronger. As against the arguments of the opposition, it +was urged that all the British colonies, even the small Bermuda, had a +local government; that Nova Scotia was granted it as far back as the +middle of the eighteenth century; that the older American colonies had +always enjoyed self-government; and that the time had now come for the +extension of the same privilege to Newfoundland. The authority of +Governor Cochrane, who was appointed in 1825, and whose term of office +lasted till 1834, was limited by the appointment of a Council, +consisting of the Chief Justice, the two assistant Judges, and the +Military Commander at St. John's. Under this Governor roads were for +the first time laid out in the island. The irritation of the merchants +at home was intense, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>and the name of Peter Ougier, a west country +merchant, ought to go down to posterity. In his evidence before the +committee, he protested with real emotion: "They are making roads in +Newfoundland: next thing they will be having carriages and driving +about." Sir Thomas Cochrane was regarded as the best Governor ever +sent to Newfoundland. He was "the first real administrator and ruler +of the colony. An eminently practical man, he not only organized +improvements, he personally superintended their execution. His +activity was unbounded; in the early mornings he was out on horseback +inspecting the roads, directing his workmen, laying out the grounds at +Virginia, having interviews with the farmers, giving them practical +hints about agriculture; everywhere he impressed his strong +personality on colonial affairs. He was very sociable, and his +hospitality was unstinted." Indeed, the historian of the island can +point to only one mistake committed by the Governor, the bad taste +shown in the erection of Government House, which "looks more like a +prison than the Vice-regal residence ... it is a huge pile of +unredeemed ugliness."<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> + +<p>In England, in the early thirties, reform was in the air. The blow was +struck at the right time, and in 1832—the year of the great Reform +Bill—Parliament passed a measure creating in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>Newfoundland a +representative assembly. The island was divided into nine electoral +divisions, each of which was to have one or more representatives, +according to population. There were, in fact, fifteen members. The +first election passed off quietly in the autumn of the same year. Dr. +Carson, the father of Home Rule, stood for St. John's, and Mr Justice +Prowse has usefully noted that he was defeated. The fickleness and +ingratitude of the people were never more dramatically illustrated. +"He had been the pioneer of the new movement, had suffered in the +people's cause, and yet the public, 'that many-headed monster +thing—the mob,' were the first to cast aside their leader in the +fight for Home Rule, and to give their votes and support to a new and +untried man." It was said, however, that the defeat was due to an +electioneering trick, whereby a false report was spread as to the +attitude of the veteran in the liberal cause.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> "The House of +Assembly of 1833 was the youngest constituent body in America, but it +was not one whit behind any of them in stately parliamentary pageant +and grandiloquent language. H.B. (Doyle) in London caricatured it as +the 'Bow-wow Parliament' with a big Newfoundland dog in wig and bands +as Speaker putting the motion: 'As many as are of that opinion +say—bow; of the contrary—wow; the bows have it.'"<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>A nominated Legislative Council had been provided by the Constitution +of the Colony. The relations of the Chambers have always been delicate +in the British colonies, and in Newfoundland friction soon arose. The +Legislative Council, under Chief Justice Boulton—who improperly +called himself the Speaker instead of the President—set itself to +thwart and discredit the popular Chamber. On both sides the +controversies were petty, and were conducted in a petty spirit. The +popular assembly described itself as "the Commons House of Assembly in +Parliament assembled"; whereupon it was ordered forthwith to strike +out the word "Parliament." The Legislative Council appears to have +been the more cantankerous, and the less prone to compromise. At last +matters reached an <i>impasse</i>, for the Council began to throw out +Supply and Revenue Bills. In the first year of the Queen's reign, when +Canada was already full of trouble, delegates from the Newfoundland +House of Assembly arrived in London. Their mission was in the main +successful. The Council was recommended to adopt the Appropriation +Bill, and Chief Justice Boulton was summarily dismissed. "Boulton," +says Mr Justice Prowse, "had undoubted ability, but he was the worst +possible selection for both the Council and the Bench. His views, both +of law and legislation, were most illiberal; as a technical lawyer he +was mostly right and sublimely independent, but his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>harsh sentences, +his indecent party spirit, and his personal manners caused him to be +hated as no one else was ever hated in this colony."<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> + +<p>In 1838 occurred the Kielly affair, which has added a leading case to +English constitutional law. Dr. Kielly assaulted, or was said to have +assaulted, Mr John Kent, who was a member of the Assembly. Mr Kent +brought the matter before the Assembly as a breach of privilege. The +House refused to hear witnesses on Kielly's behalf, treated the charge +as proved, and demanded that he should apologize at the bar of the +House. Kielly refused, adding that Kent was a liar and a coward. Then +followed an interlude of comic opera. Kielly was committed, whereupon +Mr Justice Lilly granted a writ of <i>habeas corpus</i>. This was not to be +borne by the imperious Assembly, and the Speaker promptly issued his +warrant for the re-arrest of Kielly, the arrest of the High Sheriff, +and of Judge Lilly. Nothing like it had been seen since the heyday of +the Wilkes litigation in England, when the House of Commons committed +the Sheriff of Middlesex to prison for carrying out the orders of the +Court of King's Bench.</p> + +<p>In the unruffled atmosphere of the Privy Council the legal question +found its decision.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> It was laid down that the Crown, by its +prerogative, can <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>create a Legislative Assembly in a settled colony, +with the government of its inhabitants: but that it is highly doubtful +whether the Crown could, if it wished, bestow upon such an Assembly an +authority, such as that of committing for contempt, not incidental to +it by law. "The House of Assembly of Newfoundland," said Chief Baron +Parke, "have not, what they erroneously supposed themselves to +possess, the same exclusive privileges which the ancient law of +England has annexed to the Houses of Parliament."</p> + +<p>In 1838 the members of the Assembly were elected for four years, and +this term has continued ever since.</p> + +<p>The colony was destined to pass now through bitter trials. Having +secured freedom, after much suffering and oppression, it soon learnt +that freedom without common sense and moderation degenerates into +licence, and becomes a menace and a terror. The election of +representatives was accompanied by scenes of turbulence and disorder: +the sense of toleration and compromise was absent. Half of the +population were Roman Catholics of Irish descent, in whom rankled +memories of ancient wrongs; the other half were Protestants of English +descent, long used to ascendency, who were headed by a wealthy +commercial class. With the introduction of the new régime old +distrusts and hostilities were rekindled, and an unscrupulous press +fanned the flames. Religion became mixed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>up with the political +contention; and the evil passions that were aroused, and the outrages +that were committed held back for some time the progress of the +community and the political development of the colony.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> See <i>infra</i>, chap. x.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> D.W. Prowse, "History of Newfoundland," second edition +(London, 1896), pp. 424, 425, 426.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Prowse, <i>op. cit.</i>, pp. 429, 430.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 431.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Prowse, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 434.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Kielly <i>v.</i> Carson (1842), Moore's Privy Council Cases, +vol. iv., pp. 63, 88.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER VII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>SELF-GOVERNMENT</h4> +<br /> + +<p>The political faculty in Newfoundland was so rudimentary at this +period that from 1841 to 1843 it became necessary to suspend the +Constitution. In the autumn of 1840 an election riot at Carbonear +occurred, which was of such a serious character that the sympathies of +the British ministry with Newfoundland affairs were alienated, and the +Governor was ordered to dissolve the Legislature. He did this on April +26th, 1841, and in his speech pointed out the reason for such drastic +action: "As a Committee of the House of Commons has been appointed to +enquire into the state of Newfoundland, before which Committee I shall +have to appear, I will on the present occasion confine myself to the +expression of my regret that such a proceeding should have become +indispensably necessary to the tranquillity and welfare of the +colony." Until 1849 the government was carried on by a General +Assembly—a makeshift Assembly—in which members of the House of +Assembly sat side by side with members of the Council, the latter +losing their distinctive functions.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>Under Governor Prescott (1834) and Governor Harvey (1841) began +organized attempts to foster the agricultural interest. Liberal grants +of land were made to poor settlers, and considerable sums voted for +the construction of roads. This was indeed a period of healthy +activity, for the development of the seal fishery added in a variety +of ways to the prosperity of the island, and the invention of steam, +together with the establishment of a regular mail service, brought +Newfoundland very much nearer to the home country.</p> + +<p>On June 9th, 1846, came the last great fire but one which has ravaged +the colony. By great misfortune it broke out when a high wind was +blowing, and spread with fatal rapidity all over the town. Buildings, +public and private, wooden and stone, were involved in a common +destruction, and the last touch of horror came when the large oil vats +fringing the harbour caught fire. The Custom House, the Church of St. +John's, the Courts and Gaol, the Theatre, the Bank of British North +America, the Colonial Treasurer's Office, and the Savings Bank, were +all destroyed. It was estimated that the aggregate amount of damage +done was £1,000,000, and that upwards of 12,000 persons lost their +homes. In this crushing affliction the spirit shown by all classes, +from Governor Harvey downwards, was admirable. At a representative +meeting of the citizens convened by the Governor it was resolved:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>"That this meeting is aware that the well-established credit and +stability of the trade of St. John's, coupled with the natural and +inexhaustible resources of its fisheries, will speedily enable it to +recover its usual current, but that in the meantime it is necessary +that publicity should be given to the demand for provisions and +building materials which at present exists in this market."</p> + +<p>Help from Canada was quickly forthcoming and a grant of £30,000 from +the home country combined with private efforts to meet the most +pressing needs of the moment. The building of wider streets, the +proscription of wooden houses, and the provision of an ampler water +supply, showed that the lessons of the past had not been thrown away.</p> + +<p>That year, 1846, was to be an <i>annus mirabilis</i>, for a storm, fiercer +than the wildest within living memory, wrought havoc among the +shipping in St. John's Harbour, and overwhelmed many substantial +buildings inland. It seemed as if the malice of destiny had sent the +gale to destroy the little that had escaped the fire; for Natives' +Hall, which was being used to shelter the houseless, was blown to the +ground.</p> + +<p>About this time—thanks to the currents of excitement spread +everywhere by the European revolutionary movements of 1848—began a +fresh agitation for responsible government, which had already been +granted to the other North American <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>colonies, and which involved a +larger measure of self-government than had been conceded in the +constitution of 1832. The inhabitants became more and more anxious +that appointments within the colony should depend upon popular +approval—or, rather, on the choice of the party commanding a majority +in the Legislature—and not upon the Crown's nomination. The official +view at home on this demand was stated both by the Whig, Earl Grey, +and the Conservative, Sir John Pakington. The former wrote:</p> + +<p>"Until the wealth and population of the colony shall have increased +considerably beyond their present amount, the introduction of what is +called responsible government will by no means prove to its +advantage.... The institutions of Newfoundland have been of late in +various ways modified and altered, and some time must unavoidably +elapse before they can acquire that amount of fixity and adaptation to +the colonial wants of society which seems an indispensable preliminary +to the future extension of popular government."</p> + +<p>Similarly, Sir John Pakington, in a despatch of April 3rd, 1852, +observed:</p> + +<p>"Her Majesty's Government see no reason for differing from the +conclusions at which their predecessors had arrived in the question of +the establishment of responsible government, and which were conveyed +to you by Lord Grey in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>despatch already mentioned. I consider, on +the contrary, that the wisdom and justice of these conclusions are +confirmed by the accounts since received from Newfoundland."</p> + +<p>The change came in 1855, a year after the Secretary of State for the +Colonies had informed the Governor that "Her Majesty's Government has +come to the conclusion that they ought not to withhold from +Newfoundland those institutions and that civil administration which, +under the popular name of responsible government, have been adopted in +all Her Majesty's neighbouring possessions in North America, and they +are prepared to concede the immediate application of the system as +soon as certain preliminary conditions have been acceded to on the +part of the Legislature." At the same time the numbers of members in +the Representative Assembly was, at the instance of the Imperial +Government, increased to thirty.</p> + +<p>It was not long before the Empire had an instructive lesson in the +influence with which responsible government arms a colony. A natural +<i>rapprochement</i> between France and England followed the Crimean War, +and a Convention was drafted dealing with the Newfoundland fisheries. +Against the proposed adjustment, involving a surrender by Great +Britain of Newfoundland fishing rights, local feeling was strong and +unanimous. Petition followed petition, and delegation delegation. "The +excitement in the colony over <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>the Convention of 1857 was most intense +and widespread; the British flag was hoisted half-mast; other excited +citizens flew American flags; everywhere there was burning indignation +over this proposal to sell our birthright for a mess of pottage.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> +The resolute attitude of those interested elicited from Mr H. +Labouchere, then Colonial Secretary, the welcome expression of a great +constitutional principle:</p> + +<p>"The proposals contained in the Convention having been now +unequivocally refused by the colony, they will of course fall to the +ground; and you are authorized to give such assurance as you may think +proper, that the consent of the community of Newfoundland is regarded +by Her Majesty's Government as the essential preliminary to any +modification of their territorial or maritime rights."</p> + +<p>So vital is the appreciation of this principle to an Empire +constituted like our own, that it is worth while to set out the +resolution of the Newfoundland Legislature which killed the +Convention:</p> + +<p>"We deem it our duty most respectfully to protest in the most solemn +way against any attempt to alienate any portion of our fisheries or +our soil to any foreign power without the consent of the local +Legislature. As our fishery and territorial rights constitute the +basis of our commerce and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>of our social and political existence, as +they are our birthright and the legal inheritance of our children, we +cannot under any circumstances assent to the terms of the Convention; +we therefore earnestly entreat that the Imperial Government will take +no steps to bring this treaty into operation, but will permit the +trifling privileges that remain to us to continue unimpaired."</p> + +<p>In 1858 took place a real advance in the relations between different +parts of the Empire, for in that year the east coast of Newfoundland +(Trinity Bay) was connected with Ireland by a submarine cable. The +messages then exchanged through Newfoundland between the Queen and the +President of the United States mark the most decisive point in what +has been called the shrinkage of the world. Eight years later a second +Atlantic cable was successfully landed at Heart's Content.</p> + +<p>A constitutional crisis arose in 1860, which was followed by serious +political disturbances. The Government, in which Mr Kent was Premier, +introduced a measure to determine the colonial equivalent of imperial +sterling in the payment of officials. The judges forwarded to the +Governor, Sir Alexander Bannerman, a representation against the +proposal; Mr Kent thereupon in the Assembly accused the Governor of +having entered into a conspiracy with the judges and the minority in +the House against the executive. The Governor demanded an explanation +which Mr Kent declined <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>to give, adding that in his judgment he was +not called upon to explain his utterances as a member of the +Legislature to the Governor. Sir Alexander Bannerman immediately +dismissed the Ministry, and invited the Opposition leader, Mr Hoyles, +to form an Administration. The election took place in April, 1861. +Political passions ran high, and the old feud between Romanists and +Protestants was most unhappily revived. At the Protestant Harbour +Grace the election could not be held at all, while at the Catholic +Harbour Main a riot took place in which life was lost.</p> + +<p>The new Assembly was opened in May 1861, and showed a majority in +favour of Mr Hoyles. It soon became clear that the passions of the mob +in St. John's were dangerously excited; Sir Alexander was hooted and +stoned on his return from the Assembly, and a little later an +organized series of attacks was commenced upon the dwellings of +well-known Roman Catholics. The magistrates thereupon called on the +military, under the command of Colonel Grant. The soldiers marched +out, eighty strong, and confronted the mob, which then numbered many +thousands. Encouraged by their commander, the troops submitted with +patient gallantry to insults and even to volleys of stones. Finally, +it is alleged, a pistol was fired at them from the crowd. Then at last +the order was given to fire; several persons were killed and twenty +wounded. Among the latter, by great <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>misfortune, was the Rev. Jeremiah +O'Donnell, who had bravely and patiently tried to calm the mob.</p> + +<p>The whole incident was unfortunate, but it is impossible to accept the +contention that Sir Alexander Bannerman was guilty of an +unconstitutional exercise of the prerogative in dissolving the +Assembly. It will not seriously be maintained that the representative +of the Queen could have maintained relations with a Minister who +publicly insulted him in his public capacity, and then curtly declined +to explain or withdraw his charges. As to the sequel, it is sufficient +to say that the civil authorities would have been grossly wanting in +their duty if they had failed to call out the soldiers, and that the +mob were not fired upon until the extreme limits of endurance had been +reached. That innocent persons should have been involved in the +consequences is matter of great regret; but association with a lawless +mob, even when the motive is as admirable as that of Father O'Donnell, +necessarily admits this risk.</p> + +<p>It cannot be doubted that deep-lying economic causes had much to do +with political discontent. From the first the financial position of +the colony had been unsound. The short prosperity of the winter months +had produced a vicious and widely-spread system of credit. Soon a +majority of the fishermen lived during the winter upon the prospective +earnings of the coming season, and then when it came addressed +themselves without zest <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>to an occupation the fruits of which were +already condemned. In this way a single bad season pauperized hundreds +of hard-working men. Governor Waldegrave in 1797 had been struck by +the failure of the law to provide for the poor, and owing to his +exertions a voluntary system of poor relief was set on foot. By the +time of Governor Gambier, in 1800, these measures had been +discontinued and, indeed, permanence was not to be looked for in a +system which depended upon voluntary support. The difficulty was that +the Crown officers advised Governor Gambier "that the provision of the +Poor Laws cannot be enforced in Newfoundland; and that the Governor +has no authority to raise a sum of money by a rate upon the +inhabitants."</p> + +<p>The evil grew worse rather than better, and by the time of the great +Governor Cochrane, in 1825, it had assumed the form of an inveterate +social disease. Many able-bodied applicants for relief were provided +with work in public employments, and the wholesome warning was added +that those who refused such work would under no circumstances be +entitled to relief. Governor Cochrane did not shrink from indicating +the real cause of the distress. "Those who are upon wages," he wrote, +"receive a sum during the summer months, which, if properly husbanded, +would, together with the produce of their own exertion after the +fishery has ceased, be fully <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>adequate to the support of themselves +and families for the following winter. Yet I am led to believe that a +large portion of this is dissipated before many weeks or days have +elasped after the fishing season has terminated, and in consequence of +such profusion many families are left to want and misery."</p> + +<p>The generality of the system destroyed in time that healthy dread of +pauperism which, as an economic factor, is of the highest national +importance. The receipt of poor relief lost the stigma assigned to it +with rough justice by Anglo-Saxon independence, and in 1863, out of a +total public expenditure of £90,000, the astounding proportion of +£30,000 was expended upon the necessities of the poor.</p> + +<p>Far-seeing observers had long before pointed out that the remedy for +these disorders must be a radical one. Improvidence among the poorer +classes is familiar to economists in more experienced societies than +that of Newfoundland, and may be accepted as a permanent element in +the difficulty. The real hope lay in opening up, on remunerative +lines, industries which would occupy the poor in the lean months. Nor +was Newfoundland without such resources, if the capital necessary for +their development could have been found. A penetrating railway system, +by its indirect effects upon the mining and agricultural interests, +would have done much to solve the problem of the unemployed. The +difficulty was that the state of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>the public finances was in no +condition to undertake costly schemes of betterment. In a later +chapter we shall see the Government, after exhausting the resources of +loans, looking to a desperate remedy to conquer its powerlessness for +enterprise.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Prowse, p. 473.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER VIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>MODERN NEWFOUNDLAND</h4> +<br /> + +<p>In 1869<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> took place a General Election, in which great Imperial +interests were involved. Governor Musgrave, in 1866, had advised +Federal union with the Canadian provinces—then about to federate +among themselves—and the election three years later was fought upon +this issue. The result was a complete rout for the Federal party; a +rout so complete that the question has hardly since reappeared within +the field of practical politics. The causes of this defeat were, in +the first place, economic considerations; secondly, Irish national +feeling and hostility to the union; and thirdly, a certain distrust +and dread of Canada. Judge Prowse, whose intimate knowledge of +Newfoundland entitles his opinion to special respect, thinks that even +in recent years there lingered some rankling memory of the days when +French Canadian raids terrified the colonists in the seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> However this may be, it is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>certain that the +outlying portions of the Empire hardly as yet felt the same community +with and loyalty to one another as they did with regard to the home +country. The relation of Newfoundland to the Dominion of Canada +resembles in many ways that of New Zealand to the new Australian +Federal system, and in each group of colonies there is a noticeable +drift towards centralization. Judge Prowse, who was a strong believer +in North American union both from an Imperial and from a Colonial +point of view, has fully indicated the difficulties. The Canadian +protectionist tariff, the greater attractions of the United States +market (inasmuch as the Dominion is a fish producer rather than a fish +consumer), the opposition which wide political changes unavoidably +excite—all these obstacles were formidable for the moment. It is +uncertain even now whether they will be strong enough to prevent, +indefinitely, the realization of the Confederate scheme. It is +possible that such a union would be followed by some disadvantages to +Newfoundland; but, on the other hand, the gain would be very great. +The politics of the colony would be braced by the ampler atmosphere of +the Dominion, and the tendency towards parochialism finally arrested. +The geographical difficulty ceased to exist when the United States +taught us how vast are the areas over which successful political +unions are possible. No one can fairly ask that Newfoundland should +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>take the step in the teeth of her own material interests; but, +assuming that union with Canada can be reconciled with those +interests, the Imperial issue holds the field. Its importance can +hardly be overstated. So soon as the several communities, which +together form the Empire, realize not merely their ties with the +Mother Country, but also their own organic interconnection, from that +moment the whole Imperial idea receives an immense accession of +strength.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> But it is now elementary that Newfoundland, and +Newfoundland alone, can take this decision. She is the mistress of her +own destinies.</p> + +<p>It is unfortunate that the Blaine-Bond incident in 1890 should have +excited ill-feeling against Canada in the older colony. In September +of that year a treaty of trade regulating the purchase of bait, etc., +the shipping of crews, and transhipment of cargo (called, from the +delegates employed on each side,<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> the Blaine-Bond Treaty) was +informally negotiated between Newfoundland and the United States, and +a draft of a convention was prepared. In the following December this +draft was modified, but in January 1891, Mr Blaine submitted a +counter-proposal, which the United States were disposed to accept, +though they were not really anxious to effect the arrangement. The +treaty had been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>submitted to the Colonial Office, and approved by it; +but the ratification of the Imperial Government was refused at the +last moment. Probably the refusal would have caused less irritation in +the colony if it had sprung from Imperial considerations; as a fact, +it was procured by Canadian remonstrances against Newfoundland's +separate action in a matter concerning Canada also, and it was felt in +Newfoundland that the island had been sacrificed to the exigencies of +Canadian party politics. It may be added here that in 1902, another +separate agreement—the Hay-Bond Treaty—similar to the preceding, was +entered into, but was rejected by the United States Senate. +Accordingly the Newfoundland Government secured in 1905 the passing of +the Foreign Fishing Vessels Act which deprived the American fishermen +(more particularly those of Gloucester, Mass.) of the special +privileges hitherto conceded, leaving them the right under the +Convention of 1818. Disputes arose. The question was discussed at the +Imperial Conference in 1907. After temporary alleviation of the +difficulties by a <i>modus vivendi</i>, the British and American +Governments came to the conclusion that the best remedy lay in a +submission to the Hague Court of Arbitration: in 1909 the terms of +reference were agreed to, and on September 1910 the award was +given.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> Newfoundland was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>thereby placed in a very favourable +position for dealing with the discrimination exercised against fish +exported to America by Newfoundlanders. The points decided were: (1) The +right to make regulations as to the exercise of the liberty to +take fish, under the Treaty of 1818, is inherent to the sovereignty of +Great Britain; (2) The United States has the right to employ +non-Americans in the fisheries, but they are not entitled to benefit +or immunity from the said Treaty; (3) While American fishing vessels +may be required to report at colonial ports when convenient, such +vessels should not be subject to the purely commercial formalities of +report, entry, and clearance at a Custom House, nor to light, harbour, +or other dues not imposed upon Newfoundland fishermen; (4) American +fishing vessels entering certain colonial bays, for shelter, repairs, +wood and water, should not be subject to dues or other demands for +doing so, but they might be required to report to any reasonably +convenient Custom House or official; (5) In the case of bays, +mentioned in the Treaty of 1818, three marine miles are to be measured +from a straight line drawn across the body of water at the place where +it ceases to bear the configuration and characteristics of a bay. At +all other places the three marine miles are to be measured following +the sinuosities of the coast.</p> + +<p>To return to the period now under consideration. It saw a bold attempt +to deal with the Poor-law <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>scandal. Relief to able-bodied persons was +discontinued in 1868. A succession of good fishing seasons, and the +development of the mining industry, lessened the difficulty of the +step. Seven years later came a still more momentous proposal. "The +period appears to have arrived," said Governor Hill, in his opening +speech to the Legislature, "when a question which has for some time +engaged public discussion, viz., the construction of a railway across +the island to St. George's Bay, should receive a practical +solution.... There is a well-founded expectation that the line of +railway would attract to our shores the mail and passenger traffic of +the Atlantic ... and thus would be secured those vast commercial +advantages which our geographical position manifestly entitles us to +command. As a preliminary to this object a proposition will be +submitted to you for a thorough survey, to ascertain the most eligible +line, and with a view to the further inquiry whether the colony does +not possess within itself the means of inducing capitalists to +undertake this great enterprise of progress."</p> + +<p>It is easy to forget, in speaking of Newfoundland until 1875, how very +little was known of the interior. The Newfoundland with which we are +concerned consisted in fact of a few towns on the coast, with a great +and imperfectly explored interior behind them. Even down to the +beginning of the twentieth century very little was known of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>much of +the island. It is difficult to assign limits to the developments which +are probable when a thorough system of internal communication shall +have given free play to each latent industry.</p> + +<p>The first proposal was that a railway should be constructed from St. +John's to St. George's Bay, but objections were made from England on +the ground that the line would end on the French shore. Then came the +proposal that it should run from St. John's to Hall's Bay, with +branches to Brigus and Harbour Grace, covering in all a distance of +about 340 miles. A joint committee of both Houses prepared a report, +which became the basis of the Bill (1880). One sentence is worth +quoting, because it states very clearly the difficulties which have +played so large a part in the history of Newfoundland:</p> + +<p>"The question of the future of our growing population has for some +time enjoyed the earnest attention of all thoughtful men in this +country, and has been the subject of serious solicitude. The fisheries +being our main resource, and to a large extent the only dependence of +the people, those periodic partial failures which are incident to such +pursuits continue to be attended with recurring visitations of +pauperism, and there seems no remedy to be found for this condition of +things but that which may lie in varied and extensive pursuits.... Our +fisheries have no doubt increased, but not in a measure corresponding +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>to our measure of population; and even though they were capable of +being expanded, that object would be largely neutralized by the +decline in price which follows from a large catch, as no increase of +markets can be found to give remunerative returns for an augmented +supply."</p> + +<p>The Act was passed, which empowered the raising of a loan of +£1,000,000 for the purpose of constructing the proposed railway. By +November, 1884, the line was completed as far as Harbour Grace; by +1888 a further instalment of some twenty-seven miles was ready between +Whitbourne and Placentia; soon afterwards it was decided to recommence +building the line northwards from St. John's to Hall's Bay, which has +been discontinued through the failure of the contractors, and to carry +out the scheme the Reid Contract was entered into.</p> + +<p>We are now reaching a period when the leading parts are played by +persons still or recently living, and the story must therefore be +continued with the reserve proper to one who is not himself an +inhabitant of Newfoundland. Particularly is this true of the much +discussed Reid Contract, the circumstances of which are reserved, from +their great importance, for a separate chapter.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<p>It is unfortunate that the ensuing stage of this short narrative +should be marred by so much trouble, but, in fact, the last ten years +of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>nineteenth century have been among the most disastrous in the +history of the island. In 1892 came the most destructive of all the +fires with which St. John's has been afflicted. The fire broke out in +a stable at five o'clock on the afternoon of Friday, July 8th, and +lasted until nine o'clock on Saturday morning. It came at the end of a +month's draught, was helped by a powerful wind, and found the town +with a depleted water supply. Arising in an eastern suburb, the flames +were carried right into the business centre of the town, and finally +reached the rich warehouses of Water Street. Eye witnesses describe +the heat as so intense that brick and stone offered little more +resistance than wood. A mile of wharfage was destroyed, and Water +Street completely gutted. "Over a vast area," wrote one who noted the +effects, "nothing is now to be seen but tottering walls and chimneys." +It was computed that 10,000 persons were left homeless, and that the +total damage exceeded 20,000,000 dollars, of which less than 5,000,000 +dollars were covered by insurance. The Savings Bank, the Hospital, the +Masonic Hall, and the Anglican Cathedral, alike perished. To complete +the misery of the sufferers, it soon became known that the food supply +remaining was only sufficient for ten days. As in 1846, the sympathy +of Canada was promptly and warmly shown. The day after the fire 4,000 +dollars' worth of provisions were sent over, and military tents +sufficient to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>shelter 1,200 people. In England, a Mansion House fund +was immediately opened by the Lord Mayor of London, and its final +amount fell little short of £20,000. Sir Terence O'Brien, the +Governor, and Lady O'Brien, happened to be in England at the time, and +they threw themselves warmly into the cause of the colony.</p> + +<p>In 1894, a misfortune of a different kind happened. On Monday, +December 10th, the Commercial Bank, the Union Bank, and the Savings +Bank, which had all been long established, were compelled to suspend +payment. A widespread panic followed, and all business was paralysed. +Workmen were dismissed wholesale, no money being available for the +payment of their wages. To make the crisis graver still, the Union +Bank was to have provided the interest on the Public Debt, which was +payable in London on January 1st. The population feared that the crash +would bring about riots and other dread occurrences. In aggravation of +the risk the rumour spread that Newfoundland was about to be +incorporated into the Dominion of Canada as a mere province. The +Government telegraphed to the authorities in London for an immediate +loan of £200,000, and requested that a warship should be despatched in +view of imminent disturbances. The causes which led immediately to the +failure were well stated in a Dalziel telegram to <i>The Times</i>:<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>"The immediate cause of the financial crisis which has overwhelmed +Newfoundland was the death of Mr Hall, a partner in the firm of Messrs +Prowse, Hall & Morris, the London agents of the firms exporting fish +to European markets. On his death the firm declined to meet further +exchanges until an investigation of their affairs had been made. Their +bills were protested, and the banks made demands on the Commercial +Bank of St. John's, which was the drawer of the bills, and which, +being unable to meet the demands made upon it, fell back upon its +mercantile customers. These could not respond, and the bank had to +suspend operations. The customers were compelled to make assignments, +and nearly every business house in the colony was crippled, so +interwoven are the affairs of one establishment with those of another.</p> + +<p>"The situation was only possible under the peculiar business customs +of the colony. The fishing industry here is pursued under a system of +advances for vessels and equipments made by the merchants to the +fishermen, who gave the catch at the end of the season in exchange. +The merchants receive large advances from the only two banks doing +business here, the Union Bank of Newfoundland and the Commercial Bank. +By backing each other's bills the banks are enabled to carry on +operations, and then at the close of the year, when the produce of the +fisheries <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>is realized, they are able to settle their overdrafts.</p> + +<p>"The disaster happened at a most unfortunate time. If it had been +postponed for another month the merchants would have realized on most +of the fish, and the assets would have been far more valuable. At +present, 2,000,000 dollars' worth of fishery products are stored in +St. John's awaiting the means of shipment. Until financial aid from +the outside world is obtained, it is impossible to place the fish on +the market."</p> + +<p>At this time the financial position of the colony was thoroughly +unsound. Its population numbered roughly 200,000 persons, and its +Public Debt amounted to 14,000,000 dollars, or nearly three million +pounds sterling. The Ministry of the day resigned, after an +unsuccessful attempt to form a coalition Government, and its +successors applied for Imperial help, an application which logically +involved the surrender of the Constitution. In fact, the unassisted +credit of the colony seemed hopeless, for in a year or two the railway +reckonings had to be met. The Government had issued bonds whereof +yearly interest was to become payable on completion, amounting to +almost a third of the total revenue of the colony.<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p> + +<p>Such temporary measures as the nature of the crisis admitted were +taken locally. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>Legislature passed two Bills guaranteeing a +portion of the note issue of both the Union Bank and the Commercial +Bank; while a loan of 400,000 dollars was procured from the Bank of +Montreal, and additional loans from the Bank of Nova Scotia and the +Royal Bank of Canada: thus "the financial sceptre passed to +Canada."<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> At the same time the manager and directors of the +Commercial Bank were arrested on a charge of having presented a +fraudulent balance sheet. Reuter's correspondent at St. John's noted +that in this time of trouble the idea of union with Canada gained +ground rapidly. How hopeless the position seemed to calm observers on +the spot may be gathered from the following vivid extracts from a +letter by <i>The Times</i> correspondent at St. John's:<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p> + +<p>"Twelve large firms controlled the whole export trade of the +colony—fish oils and fish products, valued at about 7,000,000 +dollars. Of these twelve only two remain ... and these are sorely +stricken. These firms occupied the whole waterside premises of St. +John's, gave employment to hundreds of storekeepers, coopers, +stevedores, and others, beside some thousands of unskilled labourers +occupied in the handling of the fish. All these men are now without a +day's work, or any means of obtaining it. The isolation of the colony, +away out in the Atlantic with no neighbour, is its greatest curse. +People unemployed cannot <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>emigrate, but must swell an army of +industrials depending on the Government for relief. The city is a +veritable aggregation of unemployed; it is a city to let. Every +business, factory, wharf, store, or shop employing labour has either +suspended business or has curtailed the number of its employees to the +lowest possible limit. It is not unreasonable to estimate the number +unemployed here to-day at 6,000, every one of whom must be without +work until spring opens."</p> + +<p>It is not surprising to find that in this difficulty the minds of the +colonists turned towards the Imperial Exchequer. But the distinction +is vital between an Imperial grant in relief of a visitation of nature +and a grant in relief of financial disasters which may be the result +of improvidence or extravagance. The Imperial Exchequer is drawn from +complex sources, and cannot be diverted to irregular purposes without +injustice to large numbers of poor people. These facts were not +unnaturally overlooked in Newfoundland, for in trouble the sense of +proportion is apt to disappear. Thus on March 2nd, 1895, Sir W. +Whiteway, the Newfoundland Premier, in a letter to <i>The Times</i>, said:</p> + +<p>"We have approached Her Majesty's Government, and solicited a mere +guarantee of interest to the amount of a few thousand pounds per annum +for a limited period, in order to enable the colony to float its loans +and tide it over the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>present temporary difficulties. Up to date the +people of this old, loyal colony have received no response. They have +been struggling against difficulties in the past, and if they still +have to trust to their own inherent pluck, and to the resources of the +country, they must only passively submit, although they may the more +bitterly feel the heartless treatment of the Imperial Government +towards them."</p> + +<p>The touch of bitterness in Sir William Whiteway's letter was, perhaps, +unreasonable. Mr Goodridge was Premier at the time of the crash, and +his Government at once appealed for help to England, on the ground +that if it were not forthcoming the colony would be unable to meet its +obligations. A proposal was added that a Royal Commission should be +appointed to inquire into the whole political and commercial position +of the colony. Mr Goodridge was unable to keep his place, and his +Government was followed by that of Mr Greene. The new Government at +once inquired whether, if the Newfoundland Legislature acquiesced in +the appointment of a Commission, financial help would be immediately +forthcoming. They desired information also as to the scope of the +Commission and the terms on which assistance would be given. To this +the answer was inevitable, that all these points must depend upon the +findings of the Commission. In fact, the Colonial Government wished +for an unconditional loan and an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>assurrance that the Constitution of +the island would not be interfered with. Mr Greene, in turn, proved +unable to hold his ground, and was succeeded by Sir William Whiteway. +The latter substituted for the earlier proposals a request that the +Newfoundland bonds should be guaranteed by the Imperial Government; +the suggested Commission being ignored. This was the request referred +to in Sir William's letter. Now it is very clear that although the +amount involved was relatively small, a very important principle was +raised. Responsible government has its privileges and its obligations, +the latter of which flow logically from the former. The Imperial +Government charges itself with responsibility for the finances of a +Crown colony because it directs the policy and determines the +establishment on which the finances so largely depend. It is not +reasonable to ask that the British taxpayer should assume +responsibility for liabilities incurred by a colony with responsible +government. The <i>toga virilis</i> has responsibilities. The case might, +perhaps, be different if there were no danger that the concession of +help might be drawn into a precedent. But it must never be forgotten +that the aggregate public debts of the self-governing colonies at +about that time exceeded £300,000,000.</p> + +<p>The crisis of 1895 has been dealt with at some little length, because +it would be impossible otherwise to understand the occasion of the +great Reid <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>Contract, which will form the subject of the next chapter. +It so happens that the last ten years of the nineteenth century have +been more momentous than any equal period in the history of the +colony.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> The census of this year showed that the population had +increased to 146,536.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> <i>Op. cit.</i>, p. 495.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> This question of union was frequently raised—notably in +1906, and during the Great War in 1916 and 1917 (see end of chap. +ix.).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> Sir Robert Bond, the ex-Premier of Newfoundland; Mr J.G. +Blaine, the American Secretary of State.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> House of Commons Papers, Miscellaneous, No. 3, 1910, Cd. +5396.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> See chap. ix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> December 14th, 1894.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> See General Dashwood's letter to <i>The Times</i>, December +18th, 1894.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Rogers, p. 189.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> January 17th, 1895.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER IX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE REID CONTRACT—GENERAL PROGRESS AND RECENT HISTORY</h4> +<br /> + +<p>The next few years may be dismissed briefly, for they were years of +unrelieved melancholy, from the point of view of the public financial +policy and the political development of the colony. Nor did the +disease admit of a readily applicable remedy. The experience of each +decade had shown more and more clearly that the colony had nothing in +reserve—no variety of pursuits to support the general balance of +prosperity by alternations of success. Potentially its resources were +almost incalculably great, but their development was impossible +without capital or credit. The colony had neither. Under these +circumstances took place the General Election of October, 1897. The +assets of the colony were not before the electorate, and there was no +reason to suppose that financial proposals of an extraordinary kind +were in contemplation. The result of the election placed Sir James +Winter in power. In six months the famous "Reid Contract" had been +entered into—a contract which must be described at some <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>length in +these pages, partly because it throws a vivid light upon the +constitutional relations between the Mother Country and a +self-governing colony, partly because it appears to be incomparably +the most important event in the recent history of Newfoundland.</p> + +<p>On February 22nd, 1898, Mr Chamberlain received a telegram from the +Governor, Sir Herbert Murray, advising him that a novel resolution had +been submitted to the Houses of Legislature by his responsible +advisers. A fuller telegram six days later, and a letter intervening, +explained the proposals in detail. To put the matter as shortly as +possible, the Government advised the sale to a well-known Canadian +contractor, Mr R.G. Reid, of certain valuable colonial assets. In the +first place, Mr Reid was to purchase all lines of railway from the +Government for 1,000,000 dollars; this amount was the price of the +ultimate reversion, the contractor undertaking to operate the lines +for fifty years on agreed terms, and to re-ballast them. If he failed +in this operation his reversionary rights became forfeit. For carrying +the Government mails he was to receive an annual subsidy of 42,000 +dollars. Minute covenants by the contractor were inserted in the draft +contract, "in consideration whereof," it continued, "the Government +hereby covenant and agree to and with the contractor, to grant to him +in fee simple ... 5,000 acres of land for each one mile of main line +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>or branch railway throughout the entire length of the lines to be +operated: the expression 'in fee simple' to include with the land all +mines, ores, precious metals, minerals, stones, and mineral oils of +every kind." Besides these general concessions a particular grant of +mineral land was made. The areas of land near Grand Lake, in which +coal had been discovered, were transferred to Mr Reid, on condition +that he should so work the coal mines as to produce not less than +50,000 tons of coal per annum.</p> + +<p>The contract then passed on to deal with the service of mail steamers. +Under this head eight steamers for various services were to be +provided by the contractor, and by him manned and equipped. In +consideration therefor the Government undertook to pay subsidies upon +an agreed scale. The docks were next disposed of. Under this head the +Government agreed to sell to the contractor the St. John's Dry Dock +for 325,000 dollars. The next available asset was the telegraph +service. Here the agreement provided that the contractor should assume +responsibility for all telegraph lines until 1904, in return for an +annual subsidy of 10,000 dollars, and after 1904, until the period of +fifty years was completed, should maintain them free of any charge to +the colony by way of subsidy or otherwise.</p> + +<p>By a later section of the draft contract it was provided that the +contractor should not assign <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>or sublet the contract, or any part or +portion thereof, to any person or corporation whomsoever without the +consent of the Government. The language of this prohibition is +curiously general, and is indeed sufficient in its terms to prohibit +assignments <i>mortis causa</i>, as well as those <i>inter vivos</i>. Such a +result can hardly have been contemplated.</p> + +<p>By the last section it was recorded that "the Government undertake to +enact all such legislation as may be necessary to give full effect to +the contract and the several clauses and provisions thereof, according +to the spirit and intent thereof, and also such as may be necessary to +facilitate and enforce the collection and payment of fares and rates, +the preservation of order and discipline in the trains and stations, +and generally to give to the contractor all such powers, rights, and +privileges as are usually conferred upon or granted to railways and +railway companies for the purposes of their business."</p> + +<p>Such, in barest outline, was the proposal of which Mr Chamberlain was +informed by Governor Murray. It certainly involved a sacrifice +incalculably grave of the colony's prospects, but those who brought it +forward no doubt reflected on the truism that he who has expectations, +but neither assets nor credit, must reinforce the latter by drawing in +some degree upon the former. In fact, it seems to have been doubtful +whether, at the time, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>colony could by any device meet its +obligations as they became due. The force of these observations must +be frankly conceded; but it may still be doubted whether a less +desperate remedy was not within the grasp of resourceful +statesmanship. In his first telegram, sent on March 2nd, 1898, Mr +Chamberlain called attention to the more apparent objections:</p> + +<p>"The future of the colony will be placed entirely in the hands of the +contractor by the railway contract, which appears highly improvident. +As there seems to be no penalty provided for failure to operate the +railways, the contract is essentially the sale of a million and a +quarter acres for a million dollars."</p> + +<p>From the legal point of view the contract was a very singular one. The +Government of Newfoundland, in fact, assumed to bind its successors by +a partial abdication of sovereign power. Yet the same capacity which +enabled the then Government to bind itself would equally and evidently +inhere in its successors to revoke the obligation. Those who are +struck by the conscientious obligation which the then Government could +no doubt bequeath, may ask themselves how long a democratically +governed country would tolerate corruption or ineptitude in the public +service on the ground that the monopolist worker of them had inherited +a franchise from an ancestor who had known how to exploit the public +necessities. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>virtual expropriation of the Irish landlords, which +was in progress in the United Kingdom, may have been right or it may +have been wrong; it is at least a far more startling interference with +vested interest than would be the resumption by a State of control +over heedlessly aliened public services.</p> + +<p>Whatever be the force of these observations, the disadvantages of the +Newfoundland Government's specific proposals were patent enough. Nor +were they unperceived in the colony, and in particular by the enemies +of the Ministry. The islanders stopped fishing and took to petitions. +These were numerous and lengthy, and it is only proposed to consider +here the petition which was sent by dissentient members of the House +of Assembly, containing a formidable indictment of the proposed +agreement. The objections brought forward may be briefly summarized:</p> + +<div class="block3"> +<p class="noin">1. The electors were never consulted.</p> + +<p class="noin">2. The Bill was an absolute conveyance in fee simple of all the +railways, the docks, telegraph lines, mineral, timber, and +agricultural lands of the colony, and virtually disposed of all the +assets, representing a funded debt of 17,000,000 dollars, for +£280,000.</p> + +<p class="noin">3. While the Bill conveyed large and valuable mineral, agricultural, +and timber areas, amounting, with former concessions, to four million +acres, it made no provision for the development of these lands.</p> + +<p class="noin"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>4. The conveyance embraced the whole Government telegraph system of +the colony.</p> + +<p class="noin">5. It included a monopoly for the next thirty years of the coastal +carrying trade.</p> + +<p class="noin">6. It included the sale of the dry dock, and the granting, without +consideration, of valuable waterside property belonging to the +Municipal Council of St. John's.</p></div> + +<p>On March 23rd Mr Chamberlain answered the representation of Governor +Murray, and the profuse petitions which the latter had forwarded. Both +from the general constitutional significance of the reply, and its +particular importance in the history of Newfoundland, it is convenient +to reproduce the letter in full:</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="cen">Mr Chamberlain to Governor Sir H.H. Murray.</p> + +<p class="right"><span style="padding-right: 1em;">Downing Street,</span><br /> +March 23rd, 1898.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Sir</span>,—In my telegram of the 2nd instant I informed +you that if your Ministers, after fully considering the +objections urged to the proposed contract with Mr R.G. Reid +for the sale and operation of the Government railways and +other purposes, still pressed for your signature to that +instrument, you would not be constitutionally justified in +refusing to follow their advice, as the responsibility for the +measure rested entirely with them.</p> + +<p>2. Whatever views I may hold as to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>propriety of the +contract, it is essentially a question of local finance, and +as Her Majesty's Government have no responsibility for the +finance of self-governing colonies, it would be improper for +them to interfere in such a case unless Imperial interests +were directly involved. On these constitutional grounds I was +unable to advise you to withhold your assent to the Bill +confirming the contract.</p> + +<p>3. I have now received your despatches as noted in the margin, +giving full information as to the terms of the contract, and +the grounds upon which your Government have supported it, as +well as the reasons for which it was opposed by the Leader and +some members of the Opposition.</p> + +<p>4. I do not propose to enter upon a discussion of the details +of the contract, or of the various arguments for and against +it, but I cannot refrain from expressing my views as to the +serious consequences which may result from this extraordinary +measure.</p> + +<p>5. Under this contract, and the earlier one of 1893, for the +construction of the railway, practically all the Crown lands +of any value become, with full rights to all minerals, the +freehold property of a single individual: the whole of the +railways are transferred to him, the telegraphs, the postal +service, and the local sea communications, as well as the +property in the dock at St. John's. Such an abdication by a +Government of some of its most important functions is without +parallel.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>6. The colony is divested for ever of any control over or +power of influencing its own development, and of any direct +interest in or direct benefit from that development. It will +not even have the guarantee for efficiency and improvement +afforded by competition, which would tend to minimize the +danger of leaving such services in the hands of private +individuals.</p> + +<p>7. Of the energy, capacity, and character of Mr Reid, in whose +hands the future of the colony is thus placed, both yourself +and your predecessor have always spoken in the highest terms, +and his interests in the colony are already so enormous that +he has every motive to work for and to stimulate its +development; but he is already, I believe, advanced in years, +and though the contract requires that he shall not assign or +sublet it to any person or corporation without the consent of +the Government, the risk of its passing into the hands of +people less capable and possessing less interest in the +development of the colony is by no means remote.</p> + +<p>8. All this has been fully pointed out to your Ministers and +the Legislature, and I can only conclude that they have +satisfied themselves that the danger and evils resulting from +the corruption which, according to the statement of the +Receiver-General, has attended the administration of these +services by the Government, are more serious than any evils +that can result from those services being transferred +unreservedly to the hands of a private <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>individual or +corporation; and that, in fact, they consider that it is +beyond the means and capacity of the colony to provide for the +honest and efficient maintenance of these services, and that +they must, therefore, be got rid of at whatever cost.</p> + +<p>9. That they have acted thus in what they believe to be the +best interests of the colony I have no reason to doubt; but, +whether or not it is the case, as they allege, that the +intolerable burden of the Public Debt, and the position in +which the colony was left by the contract of 1893, rendered +this sacrifice inevitable, the fact that the colony, after +more than forty years of self-government, should have to +resort to such a step is greatly to be regretted.</p> + +<p>10. I have to request that in communicating this despatch to +your Ministers you will inform them that it is my wish that it +may be published in the <i>Gazette</i>.</p> + +<p class="right"><span style="padding-right: 5em;">I have, etc.,</span><br /> +<span class="sc">J. Chamberlain</span>.</p> +</div> + +<br /> + +<p>Some of the inferences set forth in the Colonial Secretary's lucid +letter were questioned by the Newfoundland Government, but +substantially his conclusions were not assailed. The decision of the +Imperial Government by no means stayed the voice of local agitation, +and the stream of petitions continued to grow. In a further letter to +Governor Murray, dated December 5th, 1898, Mr Chamberlain <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>laid down +the great constitutional doctrine which is the Magna Charta of Greater +Britain. Every student of colonial politics should be familiar with +these passages:</p> + +<p>"The right to complete and unfettered control over financial policy +and arrangements is essential to self-government, and has been +invariably acknowledged and respected by Her Majesty's Government, and +jealously guarded by the colonies. The Colonial Government and +Legislature are solely responsible for the management of its finances +to the people of the colony, and unless Imperial interests of grave +importance were imperilled, the intervention of Her Majesty's +Government in such matters would be an unwarrantable intrusion and a +breach of the charter of the colony.</p> + +<p>"It is nowhere alleged that the interests of any other part of the +Empire are involved, or that the Act is any way repugnant to Imperial +legislation. It is asserted, indeed, that the contract disposes of +assets of the colony over which its creditors in this country have an +equitable, if not a legal claim; but, apart from the fact that the +assets in question are mainly potential, and that the security of the +colonial debt is its general revenue and not any particular property +or assets, I cannot admit that the creditors of the colony have any +right to claim the interference of Her Majesty's Government in this +matter. It is on the faith of the Colonial Government and Legislature +that they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>have advanced their money, and it is to them that they must +appeal if they consider themselves damnified.</p> + +<p>"No doubt, if it was seriously alleged that the Act involved a breach +of faith or a confiscation of the rights of absent persons, Her +Majesty's Government would have to consider it carefully, and consider +whether the discredit which such action on the part of a colony would +entail on the rest of the Empire rendered it necessary for them to +intervene. But no such charge is made, and if Her Majesty's Government +were to intervene whenever the domestic legislation of a colony was +alleged to affect the rights of residents, the right of +self-government would be restricted to very narrow limits....</p> + +<p>"The fact that the constituencies were not consulted on a measure of +such importance might have furnished a reason for its rejection by the +Upper Chamber, but would scarcely justify the Secretary of State in +advising its disallowance even if it were admitted as a general +principle of constitutional government in Newfoundland that the +Legislature has no right to entertain any measure of first importance +without an immediate mandate from the electors."</p> + +<p>The passing of the particular Bill by no means brought the Reid +controversy to an end. In fact, the General Election in Newfoundland, +of which the result was announced in November 1900, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>was fought +entirely upon this absorbing question. The issue arose in the +following way. The contract contained a clause providing that Mr Reid +should not assign his rights over the railway without the consent of +the Government. Mr Reid applied to the Government of Sir James Winter +for such consent, but when that Government was defeated in February +1900, no answer had been received. Mr Reid wished to turn all his +holdings in the colony over to a corporation capitalized at 25,000,000 +dollars, he and his three sons forming the company. On the properties +included he proposed to raise 5,000,000 dollars by debenture bonds, +this sum to be expended in development.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p> + +<p>A Liberal Ministry under Mr Bond, who had consistently opposed the +Reid arrangements, displaced Sir James Winter. Finding himself unable +to hold his own in the Assembly, Mr Bond formed a coalition with Mr +Morris, the leader of a section of Liberals who had not associated +themselves with the party opposition to the contract. The terms of +accommodation were simple: "The contract was to be treated as a <i>fait +accompli</i>, but no voluntary concessions were to be made to Mr Reid +except for a consideration." Consistently with this view, Mr Reid was +informed by the Government that the permission he requested would be +given upon the following terms:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>(1) He should agree to resign his proprietary rights in the railway.</p> + +<p>(2) He should restore the telegraphs to the ownership of the +Government.</p> + +<p>(3) He should consent to various modifications of his land grants in +the interest of squatters able to establish their <i>de facto</i> +possession.</p> + +<p>To these terms the contractor was not prepared to accede. It is +difficult not to feel sympathy with his refusal. I had the advantage +of hearing the contention on this point of a well-known Newfoundland +Liberal, who brought forward intelligible, but not, I think, +convincing arguments. The clause against assignment without the +consent of Government ought surely to be qualified by the implied +condition that such consent must not be unreasonably withheld. In the +private law of England equity has long since grafted this implication +upon prohibitions against assignment. If, however, the Government had +been content with a blunt <i>non possumus</i>, a case could no doubt have +been made out for insisting upon their pound of flesh. They chose, +however, to do the one thing which was neither dignified nor +defensible: they offered to assent to an assignment on condition that +Mr Reid surrendered his most valuable privileges. It is no answer to +say, as many Newfoundland Liberals did say: We opposed the contract +from the start, and it is therefore impossible for us to assent to any +extension of the contractor's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>privileges. In fact, such an argument +seems to betray an inability to understand the ground principle on +which party government depends. That principle, of course, is the +loyal acceptance by each party on entering office of the completed +legislation of its predecessors. To borrow a metaphor from the Roman +lawyers, the <i>hereditas</i> may be <i>damnosa</i>, but the party succeeds +thereto as a <i>hæres necessarius</i>. Any other rule would substitute +anarchy for order, and an endless process of reversing the past for a +salutary attention to the present.</p> + +<p>It must, on the other hand, be admitted that Mr Reid's conduct was not +very well chosen to reassure his critics. He threw himself heart and +soul into the General Election which became imminent, and displayed +little judiciousness in his selection of nominees to fight seats in +his interests. It is hard to suppose that independent men were not +discoverable to lay stress on the immediate relief to the colony which +the contract secured, and the inexorable necessity of which it might +plausibly be represented to be the outcome. Mr Morine was Mr Reid's +solicitor. He was a prominent Conservative and Minister of Finance, +and his influence in the Assembly (where his connection with Mr Reid +was apparently unknown) had been exerted in favour of the contract. +When challenged on the point, Mr Morine asserted that he advised Mr +Reid only on private matters, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>in which his interests would not come +into conflict with those of the colony. Compelled to resign, however, +by Governor Murray on account of the apparently incompatible duality +of his position, he was reinstated (April, 1899) by Governor M'Callum, +on an undertaking that his connection with Mr Reid should be suspended +during office. Mr Morine became leader of the Conservative party on +the retirement of Sir James Winter, reassuming at the same time his +business relations with Mr Reid. In concert with the latter he began a +political campaign in opposition to the Liberal party. His partner, Mr +Gibbs, fought another seat in the same interest. <i>The Times</i> +correspondent above referred to gives an amusing account of other +candidates:</p> + +<p>"One of Mr Reid's sons has been accompanying him through his +constituency, and is mooted as a candidate. Two captains of Reid's bay +steamers are running for other seats. The clothier who supplies the +uniforms for Reid's officials is another, and a shipmaster, who until +recently was ship's husband for the Reid steamers, is another. His +successor, who is a member of the Upper House, has issued a letter +warmly endorsing Mr Morine's policy, and it is now said that one of +Reid's surveying staff will be nominated for another constituency."</p> + +<p>It may easily be imagined that to the ordinary voter the Conservative +<i>personnel</i> proved somewhat <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>disquieting. Success at the polls would +have enabled Mr Reid to say, with Louis XIV.—"<i>L'Etat, c'est moi.</i>" +Amid extraordinary excitement the election was fought in the autumn of +1900 on the sole issue of the Reid contract, and resulted in a +sweeping victory for the Liberal party, supporting Mr Bond in his +policy as to Mr Reid's monopolies.</p> + +<p>The Reid Contract has been dealt with at this length at a sacrifice of +proportion which the writer believes to be apparent rather than real. +Newfoundland is newly emerged from infancy. The story of its childhood +is relatively uneventful, but the political experiments of its +adolescence must be of absorbing interest to all students of politics.</p> + +<p>In 1901 an Act was passed giving sanction to a new agreement with Mr +Reid in regard to the railways, and incorporating the Reid +Newfoundland Company. Under the agreement the sum of one million +dollars was to be paid to him in consideration of the surrender by him +of the right to own the railway at the end of 1938; and 850,000 +dollars instead of 2½ million acres of land to which he had become +entitled as a bonus for undertaking to operate the railway until 1938. +He still had, however, claims in respect of certain rolling-stock and +equipment that had been provided under earlier contracts; and also +claims arising through the surrender of the telegraphs. All these were +submitted to arbitration, resulting in awards to Mr Reid of 894,000 +dollars and 1½ million dollars <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>respectively. However, under the new +arrangement, Mr Reid ceased to be the virtual owner of the railway +system; and became merely a contractor for its operation. The Reid +Newfoundland Company, by agreement with Mr Reid, and with a capital of +25 million dollars, came into possession of over 2½ million acres of +land, with timber, mineral, and other rights thereon, and took over +all existing contracts for working the railway, and mail and steamboat +services of the colony, including St. John's Dry Dock and the St. +John's tramways, as well as powers for electric lighting in the +capital. The new Company commenced operations on September 1st, 1901.</p> + +<p>With the beginning of the twentieth century was inaugurated an epoch +of political as well as economic progress in the history of the +island. The numerous and widespread activities of the new enterprise +gave a great impetus to the colony: it ensured the efficient working +of the railway, and gave employment at a good wage to an army of +working men in the various branches, and also in connection with the +flotilla of steamers that were run. Other spheres of activity were +gradually opened up, <i>e.g.</i> the establishment of a sawmill to furnish +the timber necessary for the various needs of the scheme, the opening +of a granite quarry to supply material for bridge building and paving +the streets of the capital, the development of a slate area and oil +boring, coal mining, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>the construction of a hotel in St. John's, etc. +The expansion of the undertaking increased from year to year, and +included such projects as the establishment of flour mills, pulp and +paper mills, etc. Next to the Government itself, the Reid Company +became the largest paymaster in the island.<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> + +<p>Other factors contributing to the material advancement of the country +were the development of the iron mines at Belle Island, and the +production of pulp and paper by the "Anglo-Newfoundland Development +Company," the initiators and controllers of which were Messrs +Harmsworth, the well-known newspaper proprietors. This company was +followed soon afterwards by the Albert Reed Company of London.</p> + +<p>A few of the main events in the recent history of the colony may now +be referred to; these, taking us down to the Great War, will suitably +conclude the present chapter. First may be mentioned a curious +development in the political arena. In 1902 the Ministerial candidates +suffered a complete defeat in a by-election; and this result was +attributed to two causes—in the first place, deficient fishing +returns, and secondly, popular dissatisfaction at the monetary gains +secured by Mr Reid. The contest of 1904 was further complicated by the +formation of a number of factions in the ranks of the Opposition. The +latter eventually joined their forces under five leaders, and, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>including all elements hostile to the party in power, took the field +against the Bond-Morris Government. But the sympathies of the people +were alienated from such an unusual combination, composed as it was of +antithetical constituents, and when it was in addition rumoured that +their aim was to effect a union with Canada, they suffered a severe +reverse at the elections. Only Mr Morine was returned for his +constituency; and he had no more than five followers in the Assembly. +In these circumstances it was thought that Sir Robert Bond's +administration was ensured a long term of office. But in July 1907 Sir +Edward Morris, then Minister of Justice, resigned through a +disagreement with the Premier on a question of the amount of wages to +be paid to the employees in the Public Works. The Opposition under Mr +Morison (succeeding Mr Morine, who had shortly before left +Newfoundland for Canada) co-operated with leading supporters of Sir +Edward Morris and invited him to become the leader of a united party. +He accepted the offer, and issued a manifesto in March 1908, +indicating his policy. The number of his adherents increased, as a +result of his efforts in the Assembly. In the following November the +quadrennial general election took place, which was vigorously—indeed +bitterly—contested; and the result was a tie, eighteen supporters +having been returned for Sir Robert Bond, and eighteen for the +Opposition—a unique occurrence apparently <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>in the history of +self-governing colonies. The success of Sir Edward Morris was regarded +as remarkable, in view of several disadvantages from which he suffered +in the eyes of large sections of the population, <i>e.g.</i> his being a +Roman Catholic (every Premier during the preceding half century had +been a Protestant), his alleged sympathy with Mr Reid, and his alleged +support of union with Canada. The Governor, Sir William MacGregor, +having been requested by Sir Robert Bond to summon the Legislature, +was then required by him, on the very eve of the session, to dissolve +it, without giving it an opportunity to meet. The Governor refusing to +do this, Sir Robert Bond, conformably to usage, resigned along with +his cabinet. Sir Edward Morris was accordingly called upon to form a +ministry; but at the meeting of the Assembly the attempt to elect a +Speaker failed, owing to the opposition of the Bond party. The +Governor next endeavoured to obtain a coalition Ministry, but failed, +and a dissolution was granted (April, 1909). At the election in May +the Morris administration was returned with a substantial +majority—the new ministry for the first time in the history of the +island consisting entirely of natural-born Newfoundlanders. The course +adopted by the Governor, who had been charged by followers of Sir +Robert Bond with partisanship and unconstitutional conduct, was thus +vindicated by the election, and also approved by the Imperial +authorities. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>In a despatch from the Colonial Office, November 14th, +Lord Crewe observed:</p> + +<p>"... It will be learned from my previous despatches and telegrams that +your action throughout the difficult political situation, which was +created in the colony by the indecisive result of the last general +election, has met with my approval, but I desire to place publicly on +record my high appreciation of the manner in which you have handled a +situation practically unprecedented in the history of responsible +Government in the Dominions. I may add that I consider your decision +to grant a dissolution to Sir Edward Morris—which has, I observe, +been adversely criticized in a section of the Newfoundland press—to +have been fully in accordance with the principles of responsible +Government."</p> + +<p>In 1913 the growing prosperity of the fish trade was still further +increased by the passing of the new United States tariff law, which +admitted fish to the United States free of duty. Further, the opening +of the Panama Canal made possible the establishment of new markets.</p> + +<p>Now we come to the next momentous event in the history of modern +Newfoundland, as it is in that of the modern world generally—namely, +the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914. The colony, like all the +other British dominions and possessions, was fully alive to the +justice of the British cause, and, like the others, was resolved <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>as a +faithful and dutiful daughter to contribute to the military, naval, +and material resources of the Mother Country. This manifestation of +colonial association and unity was a remarkable feature throughout the +war, and will ever be memorable as a token of the undying bonds that +unite the scattered constituents of the British Empire, and of the +common feelings and ideals that inspire the various sections of the +British family. Despite doubt and solicitude as to the effect on +trade, especially on the fish markets, on which Newfoundland is so +much dependent, the colony devoted itself wholeheartedly to the +prosecution of the war.</p> + +<p>In September 1914 a special war session of the Legislature was held, +and several measures were passed, making provision for the raising of +a volunteer force of 1,000 men, for increasing the number of Naval +Reserve from 600 to 1,000 men, and for raising a loan (which was +subsequently furnished by the Imperial Government) for equipping and +maintaining the projected contingents. It may be pointed out here that +about the end of the nineteenth century the colony, desiring to +participate in the obligations—and indeed privileges—of Imperial +defence, took steps to establish a Royal Naval Reserve. From 1900 a +number of men volunteered as reservists, and entered for six months' +training on one of the vessels of the North American and West Indian +squadron. In 1902 a training ship, H.M.S. <i>Calypso</i>, was stationed in +St. John's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>harbour, where the 600 men—the number proposed—might +duly complete their training. Before the war the Naval Reserve +establishment amounted to 580. There were besides local Boys' +Brigades, but no military force whatever.</p> + +<p>In 1915 considerable efforts were made. By the end of the year a +military contingent of 2,000 men was raised, and the Naval Reserve was +enlarged to 1,200. In November a plebiscite was taken in regard to the +question of total prohibition, and a majority decided in its favour; +so that from January 1st, 1917, the manufacture, importation, and sale +of intoxicating liquors were prohibited.</p> + +<p>In 1916 a battalion of the Newfoundland regiment took part in a good +deal of severe fighting in France; and it was maintained to full +strength by regular drafts from home.</p> + +<p>In the meantime an Act was passed imposing restrictions on the killing +of seals in Newfoundland waters, the object being to prevent their +extermination.</p> + +<p>A political question that especially engaged the attention of the +colony at this time was its relation to the Canadian Federation, but +no progress was made towards the solution of the long standing +problem. The following year it became again the chief concern (apart +from the war) of the island's electorate. In June the question was +raised in the Federal House of Commons at Ottawa; and members spoke in +favour of union, declaring that from information <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>received it appeared +that the disposition of Newfoundland was becoming more and more in +favour of it.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> In July a coalition Ministry was established, and a +Bill was passed prolonging the life of the Parliament for twelve +months, as it would normally have expired in October. In the early +part of this year, Sir Edward Morris, the Premier, was in London and +represented Newfoundland at the Imperial War Conference.</p> + +<p>During the last year of the war the population found itself much more +affected by the world conflict than it had been in the preceding +years. Additions to the Newfoundland contingent under the voluntary +system were becoming inadequate: accordingly, the new Government, of +which Mr W.F. Lloyd was Premier, decided to introduce a Bill for the +purpose of establishing conscription. This was of a selective +character, that is, applying to all unmarried men and widowers without +children, between the ages of 19 and 39. The conscripts were to be +divided into four classes according to age, the youngest being called +up first. The Bill was passed, and the measure proved to be a +successful one.</p> + +<p>After the conclusion of the Armistice in November, the Prime Minister, +the Right Hon. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>Sir William F. Lloyd, K.C.M.G., acted as the +representative of Newfoundland at the Paris Peace Conference (1919).</p> + +<p>In concluding this chapter it will be of interest to give a few facts +and figures showing Newfoundland's effort and record in the war.<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">(1) <span class="sc">Personnel</span></p> + +<p>At the outbreak of war there was no military force in Newfoundland. +There was, however, a pre-war establishment of 580 Naval Reservists +besides local Boys' Brigades.</p> + +<p>Newfoundland contributed to the fighting forces of the Empire 11,922 +all ranks, consisting of 9,326 men for the Army, 2,053 men for the +Royal Naval Reserve, 500 men for the Newfoundland Forestry Corps, and +43 nurses.</p> + +<p>The Royal Newfoundland Regiment furnished a battalion for the +Gallipoli campaign and sent 4,253 men to France and Belgium, suffering +the following casualties:</p> + +<br /> + +<div style="margin-left: 10%;"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="50%" summary="Casualties"> + <tr> + <td width="90%" class="tdl">Killed in action and died of wounds</td> + <td width="10%" class="tdr">1,082</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Died from other causes</td> + <td class="tdr">95</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Missing</td> + <td class="tdr">18</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Prisoners of War</td> + <td class="tdr">152</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Wounded</td> + <td class="tdr" style="border-bottom: solid 1pt black; padding-bottom: .25em;">2,314</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Total</td> + <td class="tdr" style="border-top: solid 1pt black; padding-top: .25em;">3,661</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>The following decorations were won by the Regiment:</p> + +<p>1 V.C., 2 C.M.G., 4 D.S.O., 28 M.C., 6 Bars to M.C., 33 D.C.M., 1 Bar +to D.C.M., 105 M.M., 8 Bars to M.M., 1 O.B.E., 22 Mentions in +Despatches, 21 Allied Decorations, 3 other medals: Total, 234.</p> + +<p>In the Royal Naval Reserve 167 men were killed in action and 124 +invalided out of the Service.</p> + +<p>3,000 Newfoundlanders enlisted in the Canadian and other forces +(outside Newfoundland), but there is no statistical record of +casualties regarding them, although it is known they were heavy.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">(2) <span class="sc">Money, etc</span>.</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 10%;"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="50%" summary="Casualties"> + <tr> + <td width="90%" class="tdl">Total receipts, Cot Fund<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></td> + <td width="10%" class="tdr">$129,200</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Total receipts, Aeroplane Fund</td> + <td class="tdr">53,487</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Total receipts, Red Cross Fund</td> + <td class="tdr">151,500</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Total receipts, Patriotic Fund</td> + <td class="tdr">166,687</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> + +<p>A War Loan of $6,000,000 was raised by Newfoundland.</p> + +<p>A large quantity of Red Cross material, etc., was sent from the +Dominion during the war to the various organizations overseas, in +addition to many thousands of dollars worth of comforts for the +troops.</p> + +<p>Newfoundland provided the pay and allowances of the Royal Newfoundland +Regiment (6,326 all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>ranks) and made up the difference in pay to bring +the Royal (Newfoundland) Naval Reserve to the same scale as that of +the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, besides equipping the Royal +Newfoundland Regiment before proceeding overseas.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> See a letter from the able correspondent of <i>The Times</i> +in Newfoundland, November 6th, 1900.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> P.T. M'Grath, "Newfoundland in 1911," p. 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> This question has already been referred to several times +in the preceding pages (see especially beginning of chap. viii). It +may be added here that in March 1906, the Prime Minister of Canada +stated that the Government of Newfoundland was fully aware that the +Government of Canada was ready to entertain a proposal for the entry +of the island into the confederation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> For the statement following the writer is indebted to +Sir Edgar Bowring, the High Commissioner of Newfoundland.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> Instead of maintaining a hospital overseas, Newfoundland +supported 301 beds in addition to 32 in Newfoundland.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER X<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>THE FRENCH SHORE QUESTION</h4> +<br /> + +<p>It has been impossible in the above pages to avoid reference to the +Anglo-French disputes in Newfoundland, but it seemed convenient to +postpone a detailed examination of the question to a separate chapter. +No apology is necessary for such a chapter even in a work so slight as +the present, for the French Shore question was chronically acute in +Newfoundland, and the French claims, like George III.'s prerogative, +were increasing, had increased, and ought to have been diminished. The +dispute is partly historical, partly legal, and can only be explained +by reference to documents of considerable age.</p> + +<p>The French connection with Newfoundland was encouraged by the nearness +of Canada, and in quaint names, such as Bay Fâcheuse and Point +Enragée, it has bequeathed lasting reminders. For centuries the +French, like the Dutch, went on giving too little and asking too much. +By the time of Louis XIV. they had in fact established themselves—an +<i>imperium in imperio</i>—upon the south coast, and William of Orange in +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>declaration of war against his lifelong enemy recited the English +grievances:</p> + +<p>"It was not long since the French took licences from the Governor of +Newfoundland to fish upon that coast, and paid a tribute for such +licences as an acknowledgment of the sole right of the Crown of +England to that island; but of late the encroachments of the French, +and His Majesty's subjects trading and fishing there, had been more +like the invasion of an enemy than becoming friends who enjoyed the +advantages of that trade only by permission."</p> + +<p>The Treaty of Ryswick, in 1697, contained no mention of Newfoundland, +and the French were, therefore, left in enjoyment of their possessory +claims. In 1710 the splendid genius of Marlborough had brought Louis +XIV. to his knees, and the arguments supplied by the stricken fields +of Blenheim and Ramillies, Oudenarde and Malplaquet, should have made +easy the task of English diplomacy. But from a corrupt political soil +sprang the Treaty of Utrecht, the first leading instrument in the +controversy of which we are attempting to collect the threads. The +merits of the dispute cannot be understood without a careful study of +Article 13 of the Treaty. It was thereby provided that:</p> + +<p>"The island called Newfoundland, with the adjacent islands, shall from +this time forward belong of right wholly to Britain, and to that end +the town and fortress of Placentia, and whatever <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>other places in the +said island are in possession of the French, shall be yielded and +given up within seven months from the exchange of the ratifications of +this Treaty, or sooner if possible, by the most Christian King to +those who have a commission from the Queen of Great Britain for that +purpose. Nor shall the most Christian King, his heirs and successors, +or any of their subjects, at any time hereafter lay claim to any right +to the said island and islands, or to any part of it or them. Moreover +it shall not be lawful for the subjects of France to fortify any place +in the said island of Newfoundland, or to erect any building there, +besides stages made of boards, and huts necessary and useful for +drying of fish, or to resort to the said island beyond the time +necessary for fishing and drying of fish. But it shall be allowed to +the subjects of France to catch fish and to dry them on land in that +part only, and in no other besides that, of the said island of +Newfoundland, which stretches from the place called Cape Bonavista to +the northern point of the said island, and from thence, running down +by the western side, reaches as far as the place called Point Riche. +But the island called Cape Breta, as also all others, both in the +mouth of the River St. Lawrence and in the Gulf of the same name, +shall hereafter belong of right to the French, and the most Christian +King shall have all manner of liberty to fortify any place or places +there."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>The Treaty of Paris, in 1763, confirmed this arrangement, and twenty +years later the Treaty of Versailles contained the following provision +upon the subject:</p> + +<p>"The XIIIth Article of the Treaty of Utrecht and the method of +carrying on the fishery, which has at all times been acknowledged, +shall be the plan upon which the fishery shall be carried on there; it +shall not be deviated from by either party; the French fishermen +building only their scaffolds, confining themselves to the repair of +their fishing vessels, and not wintering there; the subjects of His +Majesty Britannic on their part not molesting in any manner the French +fishermen during their fishing, nor injuring their scaffolds during +their absence." But for the boundaries prescribed by the Treaty of +Utrecht (viz. those limited by Cape Bonavista and Point Riche) new +boundaries were substituted, viz., those limited by Cape St. John +round by the north to Cape Ray. The coast thus indicated came to be +known as the "French shore."</p> + +<p>As the declaration annexed to the above treaty was often relied upon +by French diplomatists, it may be conveniently set forth in this +place:</p> + +<p>"... In order that the fishermen of the two nations may not give a +cause of daily quarrels, His Britannic Majesty will take the most +positive measures for preventing his subjects from interrupting in any +manner by their competition the fishery <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>of the French during the +temporary exercise of it which is granted to them.... His Majesty will +... for this purpose cause the fixed settlement which shall be found +there to be removed, and will give orders that the French fishermen +shall not be incommoded in the cutting of wood necessary for the +repair of their scaffolds, huts, and fishing boats."</p> + +<p>The title of an Act of Parliament passed in 1782 in pursuance of this +treaty was also pressed into the service of the French contention:</p> + +<p>"An Act to enable His Majesty to make such regulations as may be +necessary to prevent the inconvenience which might arise from the +competition of His Majesty's subjects and those of the most Christian +King in carrying on the fishery on the coasts of the island of +Newfoundland."</p> + +<p>No material alteration in the position took place from 1782 to 1792, +and the Treaty of Peace of 1814 declared that "the French right of +fishery at Newfoundland is replaced upon the footing upon which it +stood in 1792."</p> + +<p>On these documents a very simple issue arose. According to the English +contention their cumulative effect was to give the French a concurrent +right of fishery with themselves upon the coasts in question. It was +maintained, on the other hand, by France that her subjects enjoyed an +exclusive right of fishing along the so-called French shore.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>It may be said at once that the course of English diplomacy was almost +uniformly weak, and was in fact such as to lend no small countenance +to the French contention. Thus, for many years it was the policy of +the Home Government to discourage the colonists from exercising the +right which was always alleged in theory to be concurrent. Nor did the +Imperial complaisance end here. The French fishermen and their +protectors from time to time put forward pretensions only to be +justified by a revival of the sovereignty which was extinguished by +the Treaty of Utrecht. Thus, they attempted systematically to prevent +any English settlement at all upon the debatable shore. For +residential, mining and agricultural purposes this strip would thus be +withdrawn from colonial occupation. It is much to be regretted that +these claims were not summarily repudiated. The Imperial Government, +however, encouraged them by forbidding any grants of land along the +area in dispute. Under these circumstances the theoretical assertion +of British sovereignty by which the prohibition was qualified was not +likely to be specially impressive. The islanders acquiesced in the +decision with stolid patience, but, undeterred by the consequent +insecurity of tenure, settled as squatters in the unappropriated +lands. As recently as forty years ago their title was still +unrecognized, and the presence of thousands of settlers with +indeterminate claims had become a dangerous <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>grievance. In 1881 Sir +William Whiteway, then Premier of the colony, paid a visit to England, +and his powerful advocacy procured recognition for the title of the +settlers to their lands, and brought them within the pale of the +Queen's law.</p> + +<p>The French shore cod fishery was recently so poor compared with the +Great Bank fishery that French fishermen abandoned the former for the +latter; and, in fact, but for a recent development of the French +claim, it would have been possible to say of the whole question +<i>solvitur ambulando</i>.</p> + +<p>The development referred to sprang from the growing lobster industry +along the French shore. In 1874 and the following years lobster +factories were erected by British subjects on the French shore, in +positions where there was no French occupation and there were no +French buildings. Here there was no violation of the Treaty of Utrecht +provision, for the French were in no way restrained from "erecting +stages made of boards, and huts necessary and useful for drying of +fish," nor was there any violation of the declaration annexed to the +Treaty of Versailles, that "His Britannic Majesty will take the most +positive measures for preventing his subjects from interrupting in any +way by their competition the fishery of the French during the +temporary exercise of it which is granted them." The "fishing" which +was not to be interrupted by competition was the fishery "which is +granted to them," a limitation which throws us <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>back at once upon the +language of the earlier treaties. Now it is indisputably clear that +the only fishing rights granted to the French were concerned with +codfish. The lobster industry was then unknown; and the language used, +and in particular "the stages and huts necessary and useful for drying +fish" spoken of, are applicable to codfish and not to lobsters, for +the canning industry was only of recent date, and lobsters, moreover, +are not dried. No fishery other than that of the codfish could then +have been contemplated. That this must have been abundantly clear is +apparent from the memoirs of M. de Torcy, one of the negotiators of +the treaty, who uses throughout the expression "morue" (codfish)—the +liberty stipulated was "pêcher et sécher les morues" (to fish and dry +codfish). The French, however, not content with objecting to the +presence of English factories, erected factories of their own, +comprehending them, it must be presumed, within the description "huts +necessary and useful for the drying of fish." They contended, +furthermore, that their rights were a part of the ancient French +sovereignty retained when the soil was ceded to England. Such a claim +was inadmissible on any view of the treaties. In fact, there was much +to be said for the view that no <i>exclusive</i> right of fishery of any +sort was ever given to the French, in spite of the language of the +celebrated Declaration. As Lord Palmerston wrote, some eighty years +ago, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>to Count Sebastiani, in his unambiguous way: "I will observe to +your Excellency, in conclusion, that if the right conceded to the +French by the Declaration of 1783 had been intended to be exclusive +within the prescribed district, the terms used for defining such right +would assuredly have been more ample and specific than they are found +to be in that document; for in no other similar instrument which has +ever come under the knowledge of the British Government is so +important a concession as an exclusive privilege of this description +accorded in terms so loose and indefinitive. Exclusive rights are +privileges which from the very nature of things are likely to be +injurious to parties who are thereby debarred from some exercise of +industry in which they would otherwise engage. Such rights are, +therefore, certain at some time or other to be disputed, if there is +any maintainable ground for contesting them; and for these reasons, +when negotiators have intended to grant exclusive grants, it has been +their invariable practice to convey such rights in direct, +unqualified, and comprehensive terms, so as to prevent the possibility +of future dispute or doubt. In the present case, however, such forms +of expression are entirely wanting, and the claim put forward on the +part of France is founded simply upon inference and upon an assumed +interpretation of words."</p> + +<p>It was, in fact, as Lord Palmerston argued, a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>perfectly open +contention that on the authorities no exclusive right was ever given +to the French, but the demeanour of this country had been such as to +render the position difficult and unconvincing. We are, however, upon +much firmer ground when we come to close quarters with the French +claims to rights of lobster fishing. The claim was first clearly +advanced in 1888, that none but Frenchmen were entitled to catch +lobsters and erect preserving factories upon the French shore. This at +once elicited an incisive English remonstrance, in deference to which +French diplomacy had recourse to the evasion that the factories were +merely temporary. They were not, however, removed, and finally in 1889 +further remonstrances by Lord Salisbury were met with the bold +contention that these factories were comprehended within the language +of the treaties. The English Government met this <i>volte face</i> with a +feeble proposal to resort to arbitration—a proposal which the +islanders declined with equal propriety and spirit. The consequent +position was vividly and faithfully stated by Sir Charles Dilke, in a +passage which may be quoted in full:</p> + +<p>"Instead of protecting British fishermen in the prosecution of their +lawful avocation, and resisting the new claim of the French, our +Government, after failing to enforce the claim of the French, tried to +go to arbitration upon it before a Court in which the best known +personage was to have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>been M. de Martens, the hereditary librarian of +the Russian Foreign Office, whose opinion on such points was hardly +likely to be impartial. Luckily, the French added a condition, the +enormity of which was such that the arbitration has never taken place, +and it may be hoped now never will.</p> + +<p>"While British officers were backed up by the Government in most +arbitrary action on behalf of the French and against the colonists, +the theory continued to be that the French pretensions were disputed +by us. At the end of 1889 the Home Government sent for the Prime +Minister of Newfoundland, who came to England in 1890. A <i>modus +vivendi</i> was agreed to preserving such British lobster factories as +existed, and the French Government agreeing that they would undertake +to grant no new lobster-fishing concessions 'on fishing grounds +occupied by British subjects,' whatever that might mean. But the +limitation was afterwards explained away, and the <i>modus vivendi</i> +stated to mean the <i>status quo</i>. The Colonial Government strongly +protested against the <i>modus vivendi</i>, as a virtual admission of a +concurrent right of lobster fishing prejudicial to the position of +Newfoundland in future negotiation; and there can be no doubt that the +adoption of the <i>modus vivendi</i> by the British Government without +previous reference to the colony, and against its wish, was a +violation of the principle laid down by the then Mr Labouchere, when +Secretary of State in 1857, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>and by Lord Palmerston. Our Government +deny this, because they expressly reserved all questions of principle +and right in the agreement with the French, and that is so, of course; +but there can be no doubt about the effect of what they did.</p> + +<p>"By an answer given by an Under-Secretary of State in the House of +Commons, the views of the Newfoundland Government were misrepresented, +it being stated that they 'were consulted as to the terms of the +<i>modus vivendi</i>, which was modified to some extent to meet their +views, although concluded without reference to them in its final +shape'; but the Newfoundland Government insisted that the terms of the +<i>modus vivendi</i> had not been modified in accordance with their views, +as they had protested against the whole arrangement. The Home +Government quibbled and said that the answer showed that the +Newfoundland Government were not responsible for the <i>modus vivendi</i> +as settled. Plain people, however, must continue to be as indignant as +the colonists are at the misrepresentation and the breach of Mr +Labouchere's principle.</p> + +<p>"The terms of the <i>modus vivendi</i> accord to unfounded pretensions the +standing of reasonable claims, and confer upon the French the actual +possession and enjoyment of the rights to which these claims relate. +Mr Baird refused to comply with the <i>modus vivendi</i>. Sir Baldwin +Walker, commanding on the coast, landed a party of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>blue-jackets in +1891, and took the law into his own hands against Mr Baird, was sued +for damages, and twice lost his case.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> There had existed an +Imperial Act under which Sir Baldwin Walker might have been protected, +but it had been repealed when self-government was granted to +Newfoundland. In the same year of 1891 a Newfoundland Act was passed, +under heavy pressure from the Home Government, compelling colonial +subjects to observe the instructions of the naval officers to the +extent of at once quitting the French shore if directed, and the Act +was to be in force till the end of 1893. The Home Government had +passed a Bill through the House of Commons, and dropped it, before it +received the Royal assent, only after the Prime Minister of +Newfoundland had been heard at the bar of both Houses and had promised +colonial legislation. The French Government have insisted that a +British Act should be passed; and Lord Salisbury, while declaring that +there ought to be a permanent Colonial Act, has always refused to +promise a British Act. To my mind, the Newfoundland people went too +far in giving up their freedom by passing the Act which I have named, +an Act to which, had I been a member of the Newfoundland Legislature, +nothing would have induced me to consent; and my sympathies are +entirely with the Newfoundlanders in their refusal <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>to part with their +freedom, for all time, by making so monstrous a statute permanent."</p> + +<p>The <i>modus vivendi</i> treaty was periodically renewed by the Colonial +Legislature with a submissiveness which would have seemed excessive if +they had not been pressed with the shibboleth of Imperial interest. At +the same time, signs of restiveness were not wanting. The complaints +of the Newfoundlanders became more frequent, more insistent, and more +emphatic. They pointed out that the French virtually claimed a +monopoly of an 800-mile shore, which was entirely British of right, +that in consequence they interfered with the development of the mining +industry, and the extension of railways, and that thereby they were +seriously hampering the progress of the colony. The case put forward +by the colonists was historically strong, and there was much to be +said for the contention that they were entitled to everything they +claimed: on any view they could rightly complain of a cruel injustice, +so long as the indolence or incompetence of English diplomacy suffered +a debatable land to survive in the teeth of an undebatable argument.</p> + +<p>In August, 1898, at the request of the Newfoundland Government, a +Royal Commission was appointed by Mr Chamberlain, and sent out the +following year, for the purpose of inquiring into the whole question +of French treaty rights. A good deal of evidence was given by local +colonists <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>of acts of French aggression, and of consequent injury in +person and property. But the report remained unpublished. Such +aggression was in keeping with the instructions issued in 1895 by the +French Premier and Foreign Minister to the commanders of the French +warships on this station: "To seize and confiscate all instruments of +fishing belonging to foreigners, resident or otherwise, who shall fish +on that part of the coast which is reserved for our use"—instructions +that amounted to an arbitrary assertion of territorial sovereignty. +And yet the actual interests of France were very meagre: thus in 1898, +on a coastline where some 20,000 Newfoundlanders were settled in 215 +harbours, there were only 16 French stations and 458 men on the +800-mile shore; in 1903 only 13 stations and 402 men.<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<p>In 1901 when the vexed question came once again before the +Newfoundland Legislature, the Government declared that in renewing the +<i>modus vivendi</i> for the following year, they did so only in +consideration of the obstacles then in the way of the Imperial +Government to securing a satisfactory settlement of the whole matter.</p> + +<p>In 1904 the Newfoundland Government refused to relax the Bait Law any +more; and France then consented to enter into the notable agreement, +which once for all abolished the inveterate grievances and +difficulties arising out of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>"French shore" question. In +consideration of certain territorial privileges in West Africa, France +agreed to relinquish her rights as to landing and drying fish on the +treaty shore, which had been recognized by the Treaty of Utrecht. +French subjects injured by this arrangement were to receive such +compensation from Great Britain as would be awarded by a tribunal +consisting of one representative of each contracting party, assisted +by an umpire if necessary. The French were to enjoy the same rights as +British subjects of fishing on the coast generally, and were permitted +to take bait, which they had been forbidden to do by the Newfoundland +Act of 1886. This convention did not affect the applicability of local +law as to bait in regard to the non-treaty coast.</p> + +<p>Newfoundland was satisfied with this change. After the ratification of +the agreement, the new Governor, Sir William MacGregor, telegraphed to +Mr Lyttelton, the Minister for the Colonies, asking him to convey to +the King the people's acknowledgment of the "great boon" conferred by +the Convention, which His Majesty was chiefly instrumental in +initiating, and to the British Government for having safeguarded the +interests of the colony in negotiations involving so many +difficulties. That this view represented that of the population at +large was shown by the return to office (October) of Sir Robert Bond +and his colleagues with a very strong majority.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>Soon afterwards an <i>entente cordiale</i> was established between +Newfoundland and the French colony of St. Pierre and Miquelon.</p> + +<p>Thus, "the Anglo-French chapter—some four centuries long—closed; and +the lobster, which darkened its closing paragraphs, ceased to be a +force in history."<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></p> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> [See <i>Baird</i> v. <i>Walker</i>, Law Reports, 1891, Appeal +Cases, p. 491.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> M'Grath, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 149.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Rogers, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 225.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>INDEX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<ul><li>Abandonment Suggested, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li>Admirals, Fishing, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li>Amiens, Peace of, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li>American Independence, War of, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + +<li>American prohibition of trade, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> + +<li>American Rebellion, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> + +<li>Area of Newfoundland, <a href="#Page_8">8</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Bacon, Sir Francis, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li>Baird, Mr, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li>Bait Law, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> + +<li>Baltimore, Lord, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li>Banks Disaster, <a href="#Page_135">135-142</a></li> + +<li>Bannerman, Governor, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + +<li>Basque Pioneers, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + +<li>Bathurst, Lord, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li>Beauclerk, Lord Vere, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> + +<li>Beazley, Mr Raymond, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> + +<li>Blaine, J.G., <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li>Blaine-Bond incident, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li>Board of Trade, The, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li>Bœothics, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li>Bonavista, Cape, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> + +<li>Bond, Sir Robert, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li>Bond-Morris, Coalition, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li>Bonfoy, Governor, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> + +<li>Bonnycastle, Sir Richard, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li>Boulton, Chief Justice, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> + +<li>Boys' Brigades, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> + +<li>Breton, Cape, Attack on, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li>Bristol, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li>British indifference, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li>Buchan, Captain, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + +<li>Burleigh, Lord, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> + +<li>Burrill's Attack, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> + +<li>Bute, Lord, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Cables, Transatlantic, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + +<li>Cabot, John, <a href="#Page_26">26-32</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35-6</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42-3</a></li> + +<li>Cabot, Sebastian, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li><i>Calypso</i>, H.M.S., <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> + +<li>Canada, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li>Canada, Proposed Union with, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> + +<li>Canadian Sympathy, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> + +<li>Carbonier, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> + +<li>Carson, Dr William, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + +<li>Cartier, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li>Casualties in Great War, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> + +<li>Chamberlain, Mr, <a href="#Page_144">144-154</a></li> + +<li>Charles, I., <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li>Charles II., <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li>Cinderella of colonial history, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li>Climate, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> + +<li>Coalition Ministry, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li>Cochrane, Governor, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + +<li>Colonization, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li>Colville, Admiral Lord, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li>Columbus, Christopher, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li>Commercial Bank, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li>Commissioners of Foreign Plantations, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + +<li>Committee of Trade and Plantations, <a href="#Page_77">77</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span></li> + +<li>"Company of Adventurers and Planters," <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>Conscription, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li>Cook, Captain, Survey of, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li>Copper, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li>Cortereal, Gaspar, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + +<li>Council, Governing, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li>Court of Civil Jurisdiction, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> + +<li>Courts of Session, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> + +<li>Crewe, Lord, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> + +<li>Customs, survival of, <a href="#Page_79">79</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Decorations won in Great War, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + +<li>d'Haussonville, Count, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li>de Martens, M., <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> + +<li>Dilke, Sir Charles, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + +<li>di Raimondi, Raimondo, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li>Discovery, the age of, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li>Dorrell, Governor, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li>Drake, Sir Barnard, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li>Duckworth, Governor, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Economic position, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> + +<li>Edward VII., <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li>Elizabeth, Queen, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + +<li>Ericsson, Leif, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + +<li>European War, (1914-19), <a href="#Page_164">164-170</a></li> + +<li>Exploits River, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Falkland, Lord, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + +<li>Famine, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + +<li>Financial crisis, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li>Fires at St John's, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> + +<li>Fishing industry, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164-5</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> + +<li>Fishing regulations, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + +<li>Fisheries Commission, 1890, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> + +<li>Fisheries, Department of Marine and, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + +<li>Foreign fishing vessels Act, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li>Foreign traders, duty on, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li>France, conflict with, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li>France, fishing concessions to, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li>French aggression, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> + +<li>French, agreement with, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> + +<li>French and fishing industry, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172-3</a></li> + +<li>French claims, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li>French colonization, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li>French fishing interests, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li>French settlement, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li>French shore question, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li>French surrender, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li>French voyagers, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Gallipoli, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> + +<li>Gambier, Governor, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li>Gibbs, Mr, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li>Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, voyage of, <a href="#Page_53">53-63</a></li> + +<li>Goodridge, Mr, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> + +<li>Governor, first, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> + +<li>Gower, Governor, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li>Grand Falls, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li>Grand Newfoundland Bank, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> + +<li>Graves, Admiral Lord, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li>Greene, Mr, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> + +<li>Grenville, Sir Richard, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> + +<li>Grey, Earl, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + +<li>Guy, John, <a href="#Page_67">67</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Hague Arbitration, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li>Hakluyt, Richard, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> + +<li>Harmsworth, Messrs, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + +<li>Harvey, Governor, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> + +<li>Hay-Bond Treaty, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li>Hayes, Captain Edward, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57-62</a></li> + +<li>Hayman's, Robert, verses, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> + +<li>Henry VII., <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li>Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li>Hill, Governor, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> + +<li>Historians, <a href="#Page_8">8</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></li> + +<li>Hobart, Lord, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li>Hore's voyage, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + +<li>Hospital, first, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li>House of Assembly, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> + +<li>Hoyles, Mr, <a href="#Page_121">121</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Imperial War Conference, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li>Imports and exports, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li>Industries, development of, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li>Iron mines, <a href="#Page_161">161</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>James I., <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li>Justices of the Peace, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> + +<li>Justice, Administration of, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Keats, Governor, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + +<li>Kent, John, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + +<li>Kielly, Dr, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + +<li>King, Governor, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + +<li>Kirke, Sir David, <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Labouchere, Mr H., <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> + +<li>Labrador, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li>Lakes, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li>La Salle, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li><i>Latona</i>, H.M.S., mutiny on, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + +<li>Laws, first, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> + +<li>Leake, Admiral Sir John, Attack by, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> + +<li>Lecky, W.E.H., <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li>Legislative Council, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> + +<li>Legislative power, establishment of, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li>Lilly, Mr Justin, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + +<li>Lloyd, Sir Wm. F., <a href="#Page_167">167-8</a></li> + +<li>Lobster fishery, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + +<li>Lyttelton, Hon. Alfred, <a href="#Page_186">186</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>M'Callum, Governor, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li>MacGregor, Sir William, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li>Mansion House Fund, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li>Markland, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + +<li>Mason, Captain John, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> + +<li><i>Matthew</i>, The, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li>May March, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + +<li><i>Mayflower</i>, The, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li>Merchants, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + +<li>Milbanke, Governor, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> + +<li>Mineral resources, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + +<li>Montague, Governor, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + +<li>Morine, Mr, <a href="#Page_157">157-8</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li>Morison, Mr, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li>Morris, Sir Edward, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li>Murray, Governor Sir Herbert, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + +<li>Musgrave, Governor, <a href="#Page_126">126</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Native inhabitants, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + +<li>Native races, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + +<li>Natural features, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + +<li>Naval Reserve, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + +<li>Newfoundland Act, the, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li>Newfoundland forestry corps, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> + +<li>Newspaper, the first, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li>Norse explorers, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + +<li>Nova Scotia, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>O'Brien, Sir Terence, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li>O'Donnell, Bishop, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> + +<li>Osborne, Captain Henry, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> + +<li>Ougier, Peter, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + +<li>Oyer and Terminer, Commissioners of, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Pakington, Sir John, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + +<li>Palmerston, Lord, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li>Palliser, Governor, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> + +<li>Palliser's Act, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + +<li>Panama Canal, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> + +<li>Paper Industry, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + +<li>Paris, Treaty of, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + +<li>Parke, Chief Baron, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> + +<li>Parkhurst, Anthony, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + +<li>Pasqualigo, Lorenzo, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> + +<li>Pedley, Rev. C., <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li>Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + +<li>Pickmore, Governor, <a href="#Page_105">105-7</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></li> + +<li>Pitt, William (Lord Chatham), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> + +<li>Placentia, Attack on, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> + +<li>Plantations, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li>Planters, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> + +<li>Poor Relief, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + +<li>Population, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> + +<li>Popham, Sir John, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>Portuguese, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + +<li>Post Office, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li>Prescott, Governor, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> + +<li>Prohibition, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> + +<li>Prowse, Chief Justice, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Railways, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>. + <ul> + <li>(See also Reid Contract and Reid Newfoundland Company)</li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Raleigh, Sir Walter, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li>Ramusio, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + +<li>Reeves, Chief Justice, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li>Reed, Albert, Company, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + +<li>Reid Contract, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143-159</a></li> + +<li>Reid Newfoundland Company, <a href="#Page_159">159-161</a></li> + +<li>Religion and religious differences, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + +<li>Rent, first levied, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li>Revenue and expenditure, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li>Rivers, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li>Roads, first, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li>Roberval, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li>Rocky River, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li>Rodney, Governor, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li>Rogers, J.D., <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li>Royal Commission, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li>Royal Newfoundland Regiment, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li>"Royal Gazette," The, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li>Rut, John, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li>Ryswick, Treaty of, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Salisbury, Marquis of, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li>Savings Bank, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li>Seal Fisheries, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> + +<li>Sebastiani, Count, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li>Self-Government demanded, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + +<li>Settlers, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li>Shanandithit, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + +<li>Shipping, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + +<li>Smith, Adam, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + +<li>Sothern, Captain, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + +<li>Southampton, Mayor of, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li>Spain and Spaniards, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li><i>Squirrel</i>, The, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + +<li>St George's Bay, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> + +<li>St John's, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> + +<li>St John's, Capture by French, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> + +<li>St John's, Surrender to French, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li>Stamp Act, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> + +<li>Star Chamber, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> + +<li>Storm at St John's, <a href="#Page_116">116</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Taxation, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> + +<li>Telegraphs, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + +<li>Thirkill, <a href="#Page_43">43</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Unemployment Problem, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> + +<li>Union Bank, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li>United States, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> + +<li>United States, Fishing Industry, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + +<li>Utrecht, Treaty of, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Vaughan, Sir William, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li>Verrazzano, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li>Versailles, Treaty of, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li>Vesmond, Chevalier, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> + +<li>Vikings, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + +<li>Volunteer Force, <a href="#Page_165">165</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Waldegrave, Governor, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></li> + +<li>Walker, Sir Baldwin, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li>Wallace, Governor Sir Richard, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + +<li>Walsingham, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li>War Loan, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + +<li>West Country merchants, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li>West Country, sailors of, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>Weymouth, Mayor of, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li>Whitbourne, Sir Richard, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li>Whiteway, Sir W., <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li>William III., <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + +<li>Willoughby, Sir Hugh, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li>Winter, Sir James, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li>Wireless Telegraphy, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li>Wolfe, General, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> +</ul> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Typographical errors corrected in text:</p> +<br /> +Page 114: 'dissolve the Legislation.' replaced with + 'dissolve the Legislature.'<br /> +Page 143: incalulably replaced with incalculably<br /> +Page 147: inepitude replaced with ineptitude<br /> +Page 149: signficance replaced with significance<br /> +Page 190: Masou replaced with Mason<br /> +</div> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> + +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF NEWFOUNDLAND***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 18636-h.txt or 18636-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/18636-h/images/mapp006.jpg b/18636-h/images/mapp006.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f350d82 --- /dev/null +++ b/18636-h/images/mapp006.jpg diff --git a/18636-h/images/mapp033.jpg b/18636-h/images/mapp033.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b81dbe --- /dev/null +++ b/18636-h/images/mapp033.jpg diff --git a/18636.txt b/18636.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e437ee8 --- /dev/null +++ b/18636.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5348 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Story of Newfoundland, by Frederick Edwin +Smith, Earl of Birkenhead + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Story of Newfoundland + + +Author: Frederick Edwin Smith, Earl of Birkenhead + + + +Release Date: June 20, 2006 [eBook #18636] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF NEWFOUNDLAND*** + + +E-text prepared by a www.PGDP.net volunteer, Jeannie Howse, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team +(https://www.pgdp.net/) from page images generously made available by Our +Roots (http://www.nosracines.ca/e/index.aspx) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 18636-h.htm or 18636-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/3/18636/18636-h/18636-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/3/18636/18636-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through Our Roots. See + http://www.nosracines.ca/e/toc.aspx?id=1319 + + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Spelling and hyphenation inconsistencies from the original | + | document have been preserved. | + | | + | A number of obvious typographical errors have been corrected | + | in this text. For a complete list, please see the end of | + | this document. | + | | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +THE STORY OF NEWFOUNDLAND + +by + +THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD BIRKENHEAD +Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain +Honorary Fellow of Wadham and Merton Colleges, Oxford + +New and Enlarged Edition + + + + + + + +London +Horace Marshall & Son +Temple House And 125 Fleet Street, E.C. +1920 +Printed in Great Britain +by Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh + + + + + +PREFACE + + +Twenty-two years ago the enterprise of Horace Marshall & Son produced +a series of small books known as "The Story of the Empire Series." +These volumes rendered a great service in bringing home to the +citizens of the Empire in a simple and intelligible form their +community of interest, and the romantic history of the development of +the British Empire. + +I was asked more than twenty-one years ago to write the volume which +dealt with Newfoundland. I did so. The little book which was the +result has been for many years out of print. I have been asked by my +friends in Newfoundland and elsewhere to bring it up to date for the +purpose of a Second Edition. The publishers assented to this proposal, +and this volume is the result. + +The book, of course, never pretended to be anything but a slight +sketch. An attempt has been made--while errors have been corrected and +the subject matter has been brought up to date--to maintain such +character as it ever possessed. + +I shall be well rewarded for any trouble I have taken if it is +recognized by my friends in Newfoundland that the reproduction of this +little book places on record an admiration for, and an interest in, +our oldest colony which has endured for considerably more than +twenty-one years. + + BIRKENHEAD. + + HOUSE OF LORDS, + _May_ 1920. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAP. PAGE + + I. THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 7 + + II. THE AGE OF DISCOVERY 22 + + III. EARLY HISTORY 45 + + IV. EARLY HISTORY (_continued_) 64 + + V. THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 81 + + VI. THE ENGLISH COLONIAL SYSTEM AND ITS RESULTS 95 + + VII. SELF-GOVERNMENT 114 + +VIII. MODERN NEWFOUNDLAND 126 + + IX. THE REID CONTRACT--AND AFTER 143 + + X. THE FRENCH SHORE QUESTION 171 + +MAPS-- + + NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR 6 + + NEWFOUNDLAND IN RELATION TO WESTERN EUROPE 33 + +INDEX 188 + +[Illustration: NEWFOUNDLAND and LABRADOR] + + + + +THE STORY OF NEWFOUNDLAND + + +CHAPTER I + +THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE + + +The island of Newfoundland, which is the tenth largest in the world, +is about 1640 miles distant from Ireland, and of all the American +coast is the nearest point to the Old World. Its relative position in +the northern hemisphere may well be indicated by saying that the most +northern point at Belle Isle Strait is in the same latitude as that of +Edinburgh, whilst St. John's, near the southern extremity, lies in the +same latitude as that of Paris. Strategically it forms the key to +British North America. St. John's lies about half-way between +Liverpool and New York, so that it offers a haven of refuge for needy +craft plying between England and the American metropolis. The adjacent +part of the coast is also the landing-place for most of the +Transatlantic cables: it was at St. John's, too, that the first +wireless ocean signals were received. From the sentimental point of +view Newfoundland is the oldest of the English colonies, for our brave +fishermen were familiar with its banks at a time when Virginia and +New England were given over to solitude and the Redskin. Commercially +it is the centre of the most bountiful fishing industry in the world, +and the great potential wealth of its mines is now beyond question. On +all these grounds the story of the colony is one with which every +citizen of Greater Britain should be familiar. The historians of the +island have been capable and in the main judicious, and to the works +of Reeves, Bonnycastle, Pedley, Hatton, Harvey, and above all Chief +Justice Prowse, and more recently to J.D. Rogers,[1] every writer on +Newfoundland must owe much. Of such elaborate work a writer in the +present series may say with Virgil's shepherd, "Non invideo, miror +magis"; for such a one is committed only to a sketch, made lighter by +their labours, of the chief stages in the story of Newfoundland. + +To understand that story a short account must be given at the outset +of the situation and character of the island. But for the +north-eastern side of the country, which is indented by deep and wide +inlets, its shape might be roughly described as that of an equilateral +triangle. Its area is nearly 43,000 square miles, so that it is larger +than Scotland and considerably greater than Ireland, the area of which +is 31,760 square miles. Compared to some of the smaller states of +Europe, it is found to be twice as large as Denmark, and three times +as large as Holland. There is only a mile difference between its +greatest length, which from Cape Ray, the south-west point, to Cape +Norman, the northern point, is 317 miles, and its greatest breadth, +from west to east, 316 miles from Cape Spear to Cape Anguille. Its +dependency, Labrador, an undefined strip of maritime territory, +extends from Cape Chidley, where the Hudson's Straits begin in the +north, to Blanc Sablon in the south, and includes the most easterly +point of the mainland. The boundaries between Quebec and Labrador have +been a matter of keen dispute. The inhabitants are for the most part +Eskimos, engaged in fishing and hunting. There are no towns, but there +are a few Moravian mission stations. + +The ruggedness of the coast of Newfoundland, and the occasional +inclemency of the climate in winter, led to unfavourable reports, +against which at least one early traveller raised his voice in +protest. Captain Hayes, who accompanied Gilbert to Newfoundland in +1583, wrote on his return: + +"The common opinion that is had of intemperation and extreme cold that +should be in this country, as of some part it may be verified, namely +the north, where I grant it is more colde than in countries of Europe, +which are under the same elevation; even so it cannot stand with +reason, and nature of the clime, that the south parts should be so +intemperate as the bruit has gone." + +Notwithstanding the chill seas in which it lies, Newfoundland is not +in fact a cold country. The Arctic current lowers the temperature of +the east coast, but the Gulf Stream, whilst producing fogs, moderates +the cold. The thermometer seldom or never sinks below zero in winter, +and in summer extreme heat is unknown. Nor is its northerly detachment +without compensation, for at times the _Aurora borealis_ illumines the +sky with a brilliancy unknown further south. A misconception appears +to prevail that the island is in summer wrapped in fog, and its shores +in winter engirt by ice. In the interior the climate is very much like +that of Canada, but is not so severe as that of western Canada or even +of Ontario and Quebec. The sky is bright and the weather clear, and +the salubrity is shown by the healthy appearance of the population. + +The natural advantages of the country are very great, though for +centuries many of them were strangely overlooked. Whitbourne, it is +true, wrote with quaint enthusiasm, in the early sixteenth century: "I +am loth to weary thee (good reader) in acquainting thee thus to those +famous, faire, and profitable rivers, and likewise to those delightful +large and inestimable woods, and also with those fruitful and enticing +lulls and delightful vallies." In fact, in the interior the valleys +are almost as numerous as Whitbourne's adjectives, and their fertility +promises a great future for agriculture when the railway has done its +work. + +The rivers, though "famous, faire, and profitable," are not +overpoweringly majestic. The largest are the Exploits River, 200 miles +long and navigable for some 30 miles, and the Gander, 100 miles long, +which--owing to the contour of the island--flows to the eastern bays. +The deficiency, however, if it amounts to one, is little felt, for +Newfoundland excels other lands in the splendour of its bays, which +not uncommonly pierce the land as far as sixty miles. The length of +the coast-line has been calculated at about 6000 miles--one of the +longest of all countries of the world relatively to the area. Another +noteworthy physical feature is the great number of lakes and ponds; +more than a third of the area is occupied by water. The largest lake +is Grand Lake, 56 miles long, 5 broad, with an area of nearly 200 +square miles. The longest mountain range in the island is about the +same length as the longest river, 200 miles; and the highest peaks do +not very greatly exceed 2000 feet. + +The cliffs, which form a brown, bleak and rugged barrier round the +coasts of Newfoundland, varying in height from 300 to 400 feet, must +have seemed grim enough to the first discoverers; in fact, they give +little indication of the charming natural beauties which lie behind +them. The island is exuberantly rich in woodland, and its long +penetrating bays, running in some cases eighty to ninety miles inland, +and fringed to the water's edge, vividly recall the more familiar +attractiveness of Norwegian scenery. Nor has any custom staled its +infinite variety, for as a place of resort it has been singularly free +from vogue. This is a little hard to understand, for the summer +climate is by common consent delightful, and the interior still +retains much of the glamour of the imperfectly explored. The cascades +of Rocky River, of the Exploits River, and, in particular, the Grand +Falls, might in themselves be considered a sufficient excuse for a +voyage which barely exceeds a week. + +Newfoundland is rich in mineral promise. Its history in this respect +goes back only about sixty years: in 1857 a copper deposit was +discovered at Tilt Cove, a small fishing village in Notre Dame Bay, +where seven years later the Union Mine was opened. It is now clear +that copper ore is to be found in quantities almost as inexhaustible +as the supply of codfish. There are few better known copper mines in +the world than Bett's Cove Mine and Little Bay Mine; and there are +copper deposits also at Hare Bay and Tilt Cove. In 1905-6 the copper +ore exported from these mines was valued at more than 375,000 dollars, +in 1910-11 at over 445,000 dollars. The value of the iron ore produced +in the latter period was 3,768,000 dollars. It is claimed that the +iron deposits--red hematite ore--are among the richest in the world. +In Newfoundland, as elsewhere, geology taught capital where to strike, +and when the interior is more perfectly explored it is likely that +fresh discoveries will be made. In the meantime gold, lead, zinc, +silver, talc, antimony, and coal have also been worked at various +places. + +A more particular account must be given of the great fish industry, on +which Newfoundland so largely depends, and which forms about 80 per +cent. of the total exports. For centuries a homely variant of Lord +Rosebery's Egyptian epigram would have been substantially true: +Newfoundland is the codfish and the codfish is Newfoundland. Many, +indeed, are the uses to which this versatile fish may be put. Enormous +quantities of dried cod are exported each year for the human larder, a +hygienic but disagreeable oil is extracted from the liver to try the +endurance of invalids; while the refuse of the carcase is in repute as +a stimulating manure. The cod fisheries of Newfoundland are much +larger than those of any other country in the world; and the average +annual export has been equal to that of Canada and Norway put +together. The predominance of the fishing industry, and its ubiquitous +influence in the colony are vividly emphasised by Mr Rogers[2] in the +following passage, though his first sentence involves an exaggerated +restriction so far as modern conditions are concerned: + +"Newfoundlanders are men of one idea, and that idea is fish. Their +lives are devoted to the sea and its produce, and their language +mirrors their lives; thus the chief streets in their chief towns are +named Water Street, guides are called pilots, and visits cruises. +Conversely, land words have sea meanings, and a 'planter,' which meant +in the eighteenth century a fishing settler as opposed to a fishing +visitor, meant in the nineteenth century--when fishing visitors ceased +to come from England--a shipowner or skipper. The very animals catch +the infection, and dogs, cows, and bears eat fish. Fish manures the +fields. Fish, too, is the main-spring of the history of Newfoundland, +and split and dried fish, or what was called in the fifteenth century +stock-fish, has always been its staple, and in Newfoundland fish means +cod." + +The principal home of the cod is the Grand Newfoundland Bank, an +immense submarine island 600 miles in length and 200 in breadth, which +in earlier history probably formed part of North America. Year by year +the demand for codfish grows greater, and the supply--unaffected by +centuries of exaction--continues to satisfy the demand. This happy +result is produced by the marvellous fertility of the cod, for +naturalists tell us that the roe of a single female--accounting, +perhaps, for half the whole weight of the fish--commonly contains as +many as five millions of ova. In the year 1912-13 the value of the +exported dried codfish alone was 7,987,389 dollars, and in 1917 the +total output of the bank and shore cod fishery was valued at +13,680,000 dollars; and at a time when it was incomparably less, Pitt +had thundered in his best style that he would not surrender the +Newfoundland fisheries though the enemy were masters of the Tower of +London. So the great Bacon, at a time when the wealth of the Incas was +being revealed to the dazzled eyes of the Old World, declared, with an +admirable sense of proportion, that the fishing banks of Newfoundland +were richer far than the mines of Mexico and Peru. + +Along the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk the codfish is commonly caught +with hook and line, and the same primitive method is still largely +used by colonial fishermen. More elaborate contrivances are growing in +favour, and will inevitably swell each year's returns. Nor is there +cause to apprehend exhaustion in the supply. The ravages of man are as +nothing to the ravages and exactions of marine nature, and both count +for little in the immense populousness of the ocean. Fishing on a +large scale is most effectively carried on by the Baltow system or one +of its modifications. Each vessel carries thousands of fathoms of +rope, baited and trailed at measured intervals. Thousands of hooks +thus distributed over many miles, and the whole suitably moored. After +a night's interval the catch is examined. + +In 1890 a Fisheries Commission was established for the purpose of +conducting the fisheries more efficiently than had been the case +before. Modern methods were introduced, and the artificial propagation +of cod and also of lobsters was begun. In 1898 a Department of Marine +and Fisheries was set up, and with the minister in charge of it an +advisory Fisheries Board was associated. + +Though the cod-fishery is the largest and the most important of the +Newfoundland fisheries, the seal, lobster, herring, whale and salmon +fisheries are also considerable, and yield high returns. As to all +these fisheries, the right to make regulations has been placed more +effectively in the hands of Great Britain by the Hague arbitration +award, which was published in September 1910, and which satisfied +British claims to a very large extent. + +A pathetic chapter in the history of colonization might be written +upon the fate of native races. A great English authority on +international law (Phillimore) has dealt with their claims to the +proprietorship of American soil in a very summary way. + +"The North American Indians," he says, "would have been entitled to +have excluded the British fur-traders from their hunting-grounds; and +not having done so, the latter must be considered as having been +admitted to a joint occupation of the territory, and thus to have +become invested with a similar right of excluding strangers from such +portions of the country as their own industrial operations covered." + +It is better to say frankly that the highest good of humanity required +the dispossession of savages; and it is permissible to regret that the +morals and humanity of the pioneers of civilization have not always +been worthy of their errand. + +It rarely happens that the native, as in South Africa, has shown +sufficient tenacity and stamina to resist the tide of the white +aggression: more often the invaders have gradually thinned their +numbers. The Spanish adventurers worked to death the soft inhabitants +of the American islands. Many perished by the sword, many in a species +of national decline, the wonders of civilization, for good and for +bad, working an obsession in their childish imaginations which in time +reacted upon the physique of the race. + +Sebastian Cabot has left a record of his standard of morality in +dealing with the natives. When he was Grand Pilot of England it fell +to his lot to give instructions to that brave Northern explorer, Sir +Hugh Willoughby: + +"The natives of strange countries," he advises, "are to be enticed +aboard and made drunk with your beer and wine, for then you shall know +the secrets of their hearts." A further practice which may have caused +resentment in the minds of a sensitive people, was that of kidnapping +the natives to be exhibited as specimens in Europe. + +The natives of Newfoundland were known distinctively as Boeothics or +Beothuks (a name probably meaning red men), who are supposed to have +formed a branch of the great Algonquin tribe of North American +Indians, a warlike race that occupied the north-eastern portion of the +American continent. Cabot saw them dressed in skins like the ancient +Britons, but painted with red ochre instead of blue woad. Cartier, the +pioneer of Canadian adventure, who visited the island in 1534, speaks +of their stature and their feather ornaments. Hayes says in one place: +"In the south parts we found no inhabitants, which by all likelihood +have abandoned these coasts, the same being so much frequented by +Christians. But in the north are savages altogether harmless." +Whitbourne, forty years later, gives the natives an equally good +character: "These savage people being politikely and gently handled, +much good might be wrought upon them: for I have had apparant proofes +of their ingenuous and subtle dispositions, and that they are a people +full of quicke and lively apprehensions. + +"By a plantation" [in Newfoundland] "and by that means only, the poore +mis-beleeving inhabitants of that country may be reduced from +barbarism to the knowledge of God, and the light of his truth, and to +a civill and regular kinde of life and government." + +The plantation came, but it must be admitted that the policy of the +planters was not, at first sight, of a kind to secure the admirable +objects indicated above by King James's correspondent. In fact, for +hundreds of years, and with the occasional interruptions of humanity +or curiosity, the Boeothics were hunted to extinction and perversely +disappeared, without, it must be supposed, having attained to the +"civill and regular kinde of life" which was to date from the +plantation. + +As lately as 1819 a "specimen" was procured in the following way. A +party of furriers met three natives--two male, one female--on the +frozen Red Indian Lake. It appeared later that one of the males was +the husband of the female. The latter was seized; her companions had +the assurance to resist, and were both shot. The woman was taken to +St. John's, and given the name of May March; next winter she was +escorted back to her tribe, but died on the way. These attempts to +gain the confidence of the natives were, perhaps, a little brusque, +and from this point of view liable to misconstruction by an +apprehensive tribe. Ironically enough, the object of the attempt just +described was to win a Government reward of L100, offered to any +person bringing about a friendly understanding with the Red Indians. +Another native woman, Shanandithit, was brought to St. John's in 1823 +and lived there till her death in 1829. She is supposed to have been +the last survivor. Sir Richard Bonnycastle, who has an interesting +chapter on this subject, saw her miniature, which, he says, "without +being handsome, shows a pleasing countenance." + + * * * * * + +Before closing this introductory chapter a few figures may be usefully +given for reference to illustrate the present condition of the +island.[3] At the end of 1917 the population, including that of +Labrador, was 256,500, of whom 81,200 were Roman Catholics and 78,000 +members of the Church of England. The estimated public revenue for the +year 1917-18 was 5,700,000 dollars; the estimated expenditure was +5,450,000 dollars. In the same year the public debt was about +35,450,000 dollars. The estimated revenue for 1918-19 was 6,500,000 +dollars; expenditure, 5,400,000 dollars. In 1898 the imports from the +United Kingdom amounted to L466,925, and the exports to the United +Kingdom to L524,367. In the year 1917-18 the distribution of trade was +mainly as follows: imports from the United Kingdom, 2,248,781 dollars; +from Canada, 11,107,642 dollars; from the United States, 12,244,746 +dollars; exports to the United Kingdom, 3,822,931 dollars; to Canada, +2,750,990 dollars; to the United States, 7,110,322 dollars. The +principal imports in 1916-17 were flour, hardware, textiles, +provisions, coal, and machinery; the chief exports were dried cod, +pulp and paper, iron and copper ore, cod and seal oil, herrings, +sealskins, and tinned lobsters. In 1917 there were 888 miles of +railway open, of which 841 were Government-owned; and there are over +4600 miles of telegraph line. The tonnage of vessels entered and +cleared at Newfoundland ports in 1916-17 was 2,191,006 tons, of which +1,818,016 tons were British. The number of sailing and steam vessels +registered on December 31st, 1917, was 3496. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] "A Historical Geography of the British Colonies." Vol. v. Part 4. +Newfoundland. (Oxford, 1911.) + +[2] _Op. cit._, p. 192. + +[3] In view of the nature and object of the present book, only a few +figures can be given here; fuller information can easily be obtained +in several of the works referred to herein, and more particularly in +the various accessible Year Books. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE AGE OF DISCOVERY (1497-1502) + + +"If this should be lost," said Sir Walter Raleigh of Newfoundland, "it +would be the greatest blow that was ever given to England." The +observation was marked by much political insight. Two centuries later, +indeed, the countrymen of Raleigh experienced and outlived a shock far +more paralyzing than that of which he was considering the possible +effects; but when the American colonies were lost the world destiny of +England had already been definitely asserted, and the American +loyalists were able to resume the allegiance of their birth by merely +crossing the Canadian frontier. When Raleigh wrote, Newfoundland was +the one outward and visible sign of that Greater England in whose +future he was a passionate believer. Therefore, inasmuch as +Newfoundland, being the oldest of all the English colonies, stood for +the Empire which was to be, the moral effects of its loss in infancy +would have been irretrievably grave. How nearly it was lost will +appear in the following pages. + +Newfoundland, as was fitting for one of the largest islands in the +world, and an island, too, drawing strategic importance from its +position, was often conspicuous in that titanic struggle between +England and France for sea power, and therefore for the mastery of the +world, which dwarfs every other feature of the eighteenth century. Nor +did she come out of the struggle quite unscathed. Ill-informed or +indifferent politicians in the Mother Country neglected to push home +the fruits of victory on behalf of the colony which the struggle had +convulsed, and the direct consequence of this neglect may be seen in +the French fishery claims, which long distracted the occasional +leisure of the Colonial Office. Newfoundland has indeed been hardened +by centuries of trial. For years its growth was arrested by the +interested jealousy of English merchants; and its maturity was vexed +by French exactions, against which Canada or Australia would long ago +have procured redress. Newfoundland has been the patient Griselda of +the Empire, and the story of her triumph over moral and material +difficulties--over famine, sword, fire, and internal dissension--fills +a striking chapter in the history of British expansion. + +That keen zest for geographical discovery, which was one of the most +brilliant products of the Renaissance, was slow in making its +appearance in England. Nor are the explanations far to seek. The bull +(1494) of a notorious Pope (Alexander VI.)--lavish, as befits one who +bestows a thing which he cannot enjoy himself, and of which he has no +right to dispose--had allocated the shadowy world over the sea to +Spain and Portugal, upon a fine bold principle of division; and +immediately afterwards these two Powers readjusted their boundaries in +the unknown world by the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), which could +not, however, be considered as binding third parties. The line of +longitude herein adopted was commonly held to have assigned +Newfoundland to Portugal, but the view was incorrect. England was +still a Catholic country, and for all its independence of the Pope in +matters temporal, the effects of such a bull must have been very +considerable. Nor did the personal character of Henry VII. incline him +to the path of adventure; and on the few occasions when he was goaded +to enterprise, almost in spite of himself, we are able to admire the +prudence of a prince who was careful to insert two clauses in his +charter of adventure: the first protecting himself against liability +for the cost, the second stipulating for a share of the profits. It is +to the robust insight of Henry VIII. into the conditions of our +national existence that the beginnings of the English Navy are to be +ascribed, and it was under this stubborn prince that English trade +began to depend upon English bottoms. But the real explanation of +Anglo-Saxon backwardness lies somewhat deeper. Foreign adventure and +the planting of settlements must proceed, if they are to be +successful, from an exuberant State; neither in resources, nor in +population, nor, perhaps it must be added, in the spirit of adventure, +was the England of King Henry VII. sufficiently equipped. Hence it +happened that foreign vessels sailed up the Thames, or anchored by the +quays of Bideford in the service of English trade, at a time when the +spirit of Prince Henry the Navigator had breathed into the Portuguese +service, when Diaz was discovering the Cape, and the tiny vessels of +Da Gama were adventuring the immense voyage to Cathay. + +It is now clearly established that the earliest adventurers in America +were men of Norse stock. More than a thousand years ago Greenland was +explored by Vikings from Iceland, and a hundred years later Leif +Ericsson discovered a land--Markland, the land of woods--which is +plausibly identified with Newfoundland. Still keeping a southern +course, the adventurer came to a country where grew vines, and where +the climate was strangely mild; it is likely enough that this landfall +was in Massachusetts or Virginia. The name Vinland was given to the +newly-discovered country. The later voyages of Thorwald Ericsson, of +Thorlstein Ericsson--both brothers of Leif--and of Thorfinn Karlsefne, +are recounted in the Sagas. The story of these early colonists or +"builders," as they called themselves, is weakened by an infusion of +fable, such as the tale of the fast-running one-legged people; but +with all allowances, the fact of Viking adventure on the American +mainland is unquestioned and unquestionable, though we may say of +these brave sailors, with Professor Goldwin Smith, that nothing more +came of their visit, or in that age could come, than of the visit of a +flock of seagulls. + +It has been asserted by some writers that Basque navigators discovered +the American continent a century before Cabot or Columbus; but +evidence in support of such claims is either wanting or unconvincing. +"Ingenious and romantic theories," says a critic of these views, "have +been propounded concerning discoveries of America by Basque sailors +before Columbus. The whale fishery of that period and long afterwards +was in the hands of the Basques, and it is asserted that, in following +the whales, as they became scarcer, farther and farther out in the +western ocean, they came upon the coasts of Newfoundland a hundred +years before Columbus and Cabot. No solid foundation can be found for +these assertions. The records of the Basque maritime cities contain +nothing to confirm them, and these assertions are mixed up with so +much that is absurd--such as a statement that the Newfoundland Indians +spoke Basque--that the whole hypothesis is incredible."[4] + +The question has been much discussed whether Columbus or Cabot in +later days rediscovered the American mainland. It does not, perhaps, +much matter whether the honour belongs to an Italian employed by Spain +or an Italian employed by England; and it is the less necessary to ask +whether Cabot explored the mainland before Columbus touched at Paria, +that in any event the real credit of the adventure belongs to the +great Spanish sailor. It is well known that Columbus thought, as Cabot +thought after him, that he was discovering a new and short route to +India by the west. Hence was given the name West Indies to the islands +which Columbus discovered; hence the company which administered the +affairs of Hindostan was distinguished as the East India Company. +Hence, too, the spiritual welfare of the Great Khan engaged the +attention of both Columbus and Cabot, whereas, in fact, this potentate +(if, indeed, he existed) was secluded from their disinterested zeal by +a vast continent, and thousands of miles of ocean. These +misconceptions were based on a strange underestimate of the +circumference of the world, but they add, if possible, to our wonder +at the courage of Columbus. Sailing day after day into the unknown, +with tiny ships and malcontent crews, he never faltered in his +purpose, and never lost faith in his theory. When he landed at +Guanahana (Watling's Island) he saw in the Bahamas the Golden +Cyclades, and bethought him how he might convey to the Great Khan the +letters of his Royal patron. He saw in the west coast of Juana the +mainland of Cathay, and in the waters which wash the shores of Cuba he +sought patiently, but vainly, for the Golden Chersonese and the +storied land of the Ganges. + +John Cabot inherited both the truth and the error of Columbus. His +career is one of those irritating mysteries which baffle the most +patient inquiry. Born at Genoa, and naturalized in 1476 at Venice +after fifteen years' residence, he seems to have settled in England +eight or nine years before the close of the fifteenth century. Already +his life had been an adventurous one. We catch glimpses of him at long +intervals: now at Mecca, pushing curious inquiries into the region +whence came the spice caravans; now in Spain, under the spell, +perhaps, of the novel speculations of Toscanelli and Columbus; now +plying his trade as a maker of charts in Bristol or on the Continent. +The confusion between John Cabot and his son Sebastian adds to the +uncertainty. Those who impute to Sebastian Cabot a cuckoo-like +appropriation of his father's glory are able to support their opinion +with weighty evidence. The most astounding feature of all is that the +main incidents of a voyage which attracted as much attention as the +first voyage of John Cabot should so soon have passed into oblivion. + +Marking the boundary as clearly as possible between what is certain +and what is probable, we find that on March 5th, 1496, Henry VII. +granted a charter in the following terms: + +"Be it known to all that we have given and granted to our well-beloved +John Cabot, citizen of Venice, and to Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctus, +sons of the said John, and to their heirs and deputies ... authority +to sail to all parts, countries, and seas of the East, of the West, +and of the North, under our banner and ensigns, with five ships, and +to set up our banner on any new found land, as our vassals and +lieutenants, upon their own proper costs and charges to seek out and +discover whatsoever isles ... of the heathen and infidels, which +before the time have been unknown to all Christians...." + +No sooner was the patent granted than the vigilant Spanish ambassador +in London wrote to his master King Ferdinand, that a second Columbus +was about to achieve for the English sovereign what Columbus had +achieved for the Spanish, but "without prejudice to Spain or +Portugal." In reply to this communication Ferdinand directed his +informer to warn King Henry that the project was a snare laid by the +King of France to divest him from greater and more profitable +enterprises, and that in any case the rights of the signatory parties +under the Treaty of Tordesillas would thereby be invaded. However, the +voyage contemplated in the charter was begun in 1497, in defiance of +the Spanish warning and arrogant pretensions. It will be noticed that +the charter extends its privileges to the sons of John Cabot. It is +better, with Mr Justice Prowse, to see in this circumstance a proof of +the prudence of the adventurer, who prolonged the duration of his +charter by the inclusion of his infant sons, than to infer in the +absence of evidence that any of them was his companion. According to +one often quoted authority, Sebastian Cabot claimed in later life not +merely to have taken part in the expedition, but to have been its +commander,[5] and placed it after his father's death. Against this +claim, if it was ever made, we must notice that in the Royal licence +for the second voyage the newly found land is said to have been +discovered by John Cabotto. It is impossible to say with certainty how +many ships took part in Cabot's voyage. An old tradition, depending +upon an unreliable manuscript,[6] says that Cabot's own ship was +called the _Matthew_, a vessel of about fifty tons burden, and manned +by sixteen Bristol seamen and one Burgundian. It is probable that the +voyage began early in May, and it is certain that Cabot was back in +England by August 10th, for on that date we find the following entry +in the Privy Purse expenses of Henry VII., revealing a particularly +stingy recognition of the discoverer's splendid service, which, +however, was soon afterwards recognized less unhandsomely: + +"1497, Aug. 10th.--To hym that found the New Isle, L10."[7] + +The only reliable contemporary authorities on the subject of John +Cabot's first voyage are the family letters of Lorenzo Pasqualigo, a +Venetian merchant resident in London, to his brother, and the official +correspondence of Raimondo di Raimondi, Archpriest of Soncino. The +latter's account is somewhat vague. He says, in his letters to Duke +Sforza of Milan, August 24th, and December 18th, 1497, that Cabot, +"passing Ibernia on the west, and then standing towards the north, +began to navigate the eastern ocean, leaving in a few days the north +star on the right hand, and having wandered a good deal he came at +last to firm land.... This Messor Zoanni Caboto," he proceeds, "has +the description of the world in a chart, and also in a solid globe +which he has made, and he shows where he landed." Raimondo adds that +Cabot discovered two islands, one of which he gave to his barber and +the other to a Burgundian friend, who called themselves Counts, whilst +the commander assumed the airs of a prince.[8] + +We have from the Venetian, Pasqualigo, a letter, dated August 23rd, +1497, which was probably a fortnight or three weeks after the return +of Cabot. According to this authority, Cabot discovered land 700 +leagues away, the said land being the territory of the Great Khan (the +"Gram cham"). He coasted along this land for 300 leagues, and on the +homeward voyage sighted two islands, on which, after taking possession +of them, he hoisted the Venetian as well as the English flag. "He +calls himself the grand admiral, walks abroad in silk attire, and +Englishmen run after him like madmen."[9] It is easy to overrate the +reliability of such letters as those of Pasqualigo and Raimondo, and +Pasqualigo's statement that Cabot sailed from Bristol to this new +land, coasted for 300 leagues along it, and returned within a period +of three months, is impossible to accept. At the same time, the +accounts given by these writers occur, one in the frank intimacy of +family correspondence, the other in the official reports of a +diplomatic representative to his chief. They are both unquestionably +disinterested, and are very much more valuable than the later +tittle-tattle of Peter Martyr and Ramusio, which has plainly filtered +through what Mr Beazley would call Sebastianized channels. + +[Illustration: NEWFOUNDLAND in Relation to WESTERN EUROPE] + +A keen controversy has raged as to the exact landfall of John Cabot in +his 1497 voyage, and it cannot be said that a decisive conclusion has +followed. A long tradition (fondly repeated by Mr Justice Prowse) +finds the landfall in Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland. It is difficult to +say more than that it may have been so; it may too have been in Cape +Breton Island, or even some part of the coast of Labrador. In any +case, whether or not Cabot found his landfall in Newfoundland, he must +have sighted it in the course of his voyage. It may be mentioned here +by way of caution that the name Newfoundland was specialized in later +times so as to apply to the island alone, and that it was at first +used indifferently to describe all the territories discovered by +Cabot. + +As no true citizen of Newfoundland will surrender the belief that Cape +Bonavista was in fact the landfall of Cabot, it seems proper to insert +in the story of the island, for what they are worth, the nearest +contemporary accounts of Cabot's voyage. They are more fully collected +in Mr Beazley's monograph,[10] to which I am indebted for the +translations which follow. The first account is contained, as has +already been pointed out, in a letter written by Raimondo di Raimondi +to the Duke of Milan: + +"Most illustrious and excellent my Lord,--Perhaps among your +Excellency's many occupations, you may not be displeased to learn how +His Majesty here has won a part of Asia without a stroke of the sword. +There is in this kingdom a Venetian fellow, Master John Cabot by name, +of a fine mind, greatly skilled in navigation, who, seeing that those +most serene kings, first he of Portugal, and then the one of Spain, +have occupied unknown islands, determined to make a like acquisition +for His Majesty aforesaid. And having obtained Royal grants that he +should have the usufruct of all that he should discover, provided that +the ownership of the same is reserved to the Crown, with a small ship +and eighteen persons he committed himself to fortune. And having set +out from Bristol, a western port of this kingdom, and passed the +western limits of Hibernia, and then standing to the northward, he +began to steer eastwards [meaning westwards], leaving, after a few +days, the North Star on his right hand. And having wandered about +considerably, at last he fell in with _terra firma_, where, having +planted the Royal banner and taken possession in the behalf of this +King; and having taken several tokens, he has returned thence. The +said Master John, as being foreign-born and poor, would not be +believed, if his comrades, who are almost all Englishmen and from +Bristol, did not testify that what he says is true. + +"This Master John has the description of the world in a chart, and +also in a solid globe which he has made, and he [or it] shows where +he landed, and that going toward the east [again for west] he passed +considerably beyond the country of the Tansis. And they say that it is +a very good and temperate country, and they think that Brazil wood and +silks grow there; and they affirm that that sea is covered with +fishes, which are caught not only with the net but with baskets, a +stone being tied to them in order that the baskets may sink in the +water. And this I heard the said Master John relate, and the aforesaid +Englishmen, his comrades, say that they will bring so many fish, that +this kingdom will no longer have need of Iceland, from which country +there comes a very great store of fish called stock-fish +('stockfissi'). But Master John has set his mind on something greater; +for he expects to go further on towards the east [again for west] from +that place already occupied, constantly hugging the shore, until he +shall be over against [or on the other side of] an island, by him +called Cimpango, situated in the equinoctial region, where he thinks +all the spices of the world and also the precious stones originate. +And he says that in former times he was at Mecca, whither spices are +brought by caravans from distant countries, and these [caravans] again +say that they are brought to them from other remote regions. And he +argues thus--that if the Orientals affirmed to the Southerners that +these things come from a distance from them, and so from hand to +hand, presupposing the rotundity of the earth, it must be that the +last ones get them at the north, toward the west. And he said it in +such a way that, having nothing to gain or lose by it, I too believe +it; and, what is more, the King here, who is wise and not lavish, +likewise puts some faith in him; for, since his return he has made +good provision for him, as the same Master John tells me. And it is +said that in the spring His Majesty aforenamed will fit out some ships +and will besides give him all the convicts, and they will go to that +country to make a colony, by means of which they hope to establish in +London a greater storehouse of spices than there is in Alexandria, and +the chief men of the enterprise are of Bristol, great sailors, who, +now that they know where to go, say that it is not a voyage of more +than fifteen days, nor do they ever have storms after they get away +from Hibernia. I have also talked with a Burgundian, a comrade of +Master John's, who confirms everything, and wishes to return thither +because the Admiral (for so Master John already entitles himself) has +given him an island; and he has given another one to a barber of his +from Castiglione, of Genoa, and both of them regard themselves as +Counts, nor does my Lord the Admiral esteem himself anything less than +a prince. I think that with this expedition will go several poor +Italian monks, who have all been promised bishoprics. And as I have +become a friend of the Admiral's, if I wished to go thither, I should +get an Archbishopric. But I have thought that the benefices which your +Excellency has in store for me are a surer thing." + +To those who, in the teeth of contemporary evidence, prefer the claims +of Sebastian, the following extracts may be offered; the first from +Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, who wrote in the early sixteenth century, the +second from Ramusio. Martyr writes: + +"These north seas have been searched by one Sebastian Cabot, a +Venetian born, whom, being yet but in matter an infant, his parents +carried with them into England, having occasion to resort thither for +trade of merchandises, as is the manner of the Venetians to leave no +part of the world unsearched to obtain riches. He therefore furnished +two ships in England at his own charges; and, first, with 300 men, +directed his course so far towards the North Pole, that even in the +month of July he found monstrous heaps of ice swimming in the sea, and +in manner continual daylight, yet saw he the land in that tract free +from ice, which had been molten by heat of the sun. Thus, seeing such +heaps of ice before him, he was enforced to turn his sails and follow +the west, so coasting still by the shore he was thereby brought so far +into the south, by reason of the land bending so much southward, that +it was there almost equal in latitude with the sea called Fretum +Herculeum [Straits of Gibraltar], having the North Pole elevate in +manner in the same degree. He sailed likewise in this tract so far +toward the west that he had the Island of Cuba [on] his left hand in +manner in the same degree of longitude. As he travelled by the coasts +of this great land, which he named Baccallaos [cod-fish country], he +saith that he found the like course of the water towards the west +[_i.e._ as before described by Martyr], but the same to run more +softly and gently than the swift waters which the Spaniards found in +their navigation southward.... Sebastian Cabot himself named those +lands Baccallaos, because that in the seas thereabout he found so +great multitudes of certain big fish much like unto tunnies (which the +inhabitants called Baccallaos) that they sometimes stayed his ships. +He found also the people of those regions covered with beasts' skins, +yet not without the use of reason. He saith also that there is great +plenty of bears in those regions, which used to eat fish. For, +plunging themselves into the water where they perceive a multitude of +those fish to lie, they fasten their claws in their scales, and so +draw them to land and eat them. So that, as he saith, the bears being +thus satisfied with fish, are not noisome to men." + +Ramusio represents Sebastian Cabot as making the following statement: + +"When my father departed from Venice many years since to dwell in +England, to follow the trade of merchandises, he took me with him to +the city of London while I was very young, yet having nevertheless +some knowledge of letters, of humanity, and of the sphere. And when my +father died, in that time when news were brought that Don Christopher +Colombus, the Genoese, had discovered the coasts of India, whereof was +great talk in all the Court of King Henry the Seventh, who then +reigned; in so much that all men, with great admiration, affirmed it +to be a thing more divine than human to sail by the west into the +east, where spices grow, by a way that was never known before; by +which fame and report there increased in my heart a great flame of +desire to attempt some notable thing. And understanding by reason of +the sphere that if I should sail by way of the north-west wind I +should by a shorter track come to India, I thereupon caused the King +to be advertised of my device, who immediately commanded two caravels +to be furnished with all things appertaining to the voyage, which was, +as far as I remember, in the year 1496 in the beginning of summer. +Beginning therefore to sail toward north-west, nor thinking to find +any other land than that of Cathay, and from thence to turn towards +India, after certain days I found that the land ran toward the north, +which was to me a great displeasure. Nevertheless, sailing along by +the coast to see if I could find any gulf that turned, I found the +land still continent to the 56th degree under our Pole. And seeing +that there the coast turned toward the east, despairing to find the +passage, I turned back again and sailed down by the coast of that land +toward the equinoctial (ever with intent to find the said passage to +India) and came to that part of this firm land which is now called +Florida; where, my victuals failing, I departed from thence and +returned into England, where I found great tumults among the people +and preparation for the war to be carried into Scotland; by reason +whereof there was no more consideration had to this voyage."[11] + +The discoveries of Cabot were appreciated by Henry VII., a prince who +rarely indulged in unprovoked benefactions, for on December 13th, +1497, we find a grant of an annual pension to Cabot of L20 a year, +worth between L200 and L300 in modern money (a pension that was drawn +twice): + +"We let you wit that we for certain considerations as specially +moving, have given and granted unto our well-beloved John Cabot, of +the parts of Venice, an annuity or annual rent of L20 sterling."[12] +It is material to notice that Sebastian, so considerable a figure in +the later accounts, is not mentioned in this grant. So it has been +observed that John Cabot is mentioned alone in the charter for the +second voyage; the authority is given explicitly to "our well-beloved +John Kabotto, Venetian." Apparently the second voyage was begun in +May, 1498, but a cloud of obscurity besets the attempt to determine +its results. It is noted in the Records under 1498 that Sebastian +Gaboto, "a Genoa's son," obtained from the King a vessel "to search +for an island which he knew to be replenished with rich commodities." +It is likely enough that Sebastian Cabot took part in this voyage, as +indeed he may have done in the earlier one; but it is clear that John +Sebastian was present in person, for Raimondo describes an interview +in which John unfolds his scheme for proceeding from China (which he +imagined himself to have discovered) to Japan. + +This brief account of the Cabots, so far as their voyages relate +particularly to Newfoundland, may be closed by some further citations +from the Privy Purse expenses of Henry VII.: + +"1498, March 24th.--To Lanslot Thirkill of London, upon a prest for +his shipp going towards the New Ilande, L20. + +"April 1st.--To Thomas Bradley and Lanslot Thirkill, going to the New +Isle, L30. + +"1503, Sept. 30th.--To the merchants of Bristoll that have been in the +Newfounde Lande, L20. + +"1504, Oct. 17th.--To one that brought hawkes from the Newfounded +Island, L1. + +"1505. Aug. 25th.--To Clays goying to Richemount, with wylde catts and +popynjays of the Newfound Island, for his costs 13s. 4d."[13] + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] Stanford's "Compendium of Geography and Travel" (New Issue). North +America, vol. i. Canada and Newfoundland. Edited by H.M. Ami (London, +1915), p. 1007. + +[5] See the excellent contribution of Mr Raymond Beazley to the +"Builders of Greater Britain" Series--"John and Sebastian Cabot." + +[6] The Fust MSS., Mill Court, Gloucestershire. + +[7] S. Bentley, "Excerpts Historica" (1831), p. 113. + +[8] These letters, together with other relative documents, are given +in the publication of the Italian Columbian Royal Commission: "Reale +Commissione Colombiana: Raccolta di Documenti e Studi" (Rome, 1893), +Part 3, vol. i., pp. 196-198. + +[9] "Reale Commissione Colombiana: Raccolta di Documenti e Studi" +(Rome, 1893), Part 3, vol. ii., p. 109: "Calendar of State Papers," +Venetian Series, vol. i., p. 262. + +[10] The more authoritative Italian source has already been indicated. + +[11] The testimony of both Peter Martyr and Ramusio, and of others, +like Gomara and Fabyan, who support the claims of Sebastian as against +John Cabot, does not now find favour; _cf._ Rogers, _op. cit._, p. 14. + +[12] Custom's Roll of the Port of Bristol, 1496-9, edited by E. Scott, +A.E. Hudd, etc. (1897). + +[13] See Hakluyt Society Publications (1850), vol. vii., p. lxii. +Bentley, _op. cit._, pp. 126, 129, 131. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +EARLY HISTORY. AGE OF IMPERFECT COLONIZATION + + +The motives and projects of the early English colonizers are thus +aptly described by a recent writer already referred to:[14] "The +colonizers were actuated by three different kinds of definite ideas, +and definite colonization was threefold in its character. In the first +place, there were men who were saturated in the old illusions and +ideas, and intended colonization as a means to an end, the end being +the gold and silver and spices of Asia. Secondly, there were +fishermen, who went to Newfoundland for its own sake, in order to +catch fish for the European market, who were without illusions or +ideas or any wish to settle, and who belonged to many nations, and +thwarted but also paved the way for more serious colonizers. Thirdly, +there were idealists who wished to colonize for colonization's sake +and to make England great; but in order to make England great they +thought it necessary to humble Spain in the dust, and their ideas were +destructive as well as creative. All these colonizers had their +special projects, and each project, being inspired by imperfect +ideals, failed more or less, or changed its character from time to +time. The first and third projects were at one time guided by the same +hand; but the first project gradually cast off its colonizing slough, +and resolved itself once more into discovery for discovery's sake; and +the third project ceased to be a plan of campaign, and resolved itself +into sober and peaceful schemes for settling in the land. Even the +second project, which was unled, uninspired, unnational, and almost +unconscious, and which began and continued as though in obedience to +some irresistible and unchangeable natural and economic law, assumed +different shapes and semblances, as it blended or refused to blend +with the patriotic projects of the idealists. These three types of +colonization..., though they tended on different directions, ... were +hardly distinguishable in the earlier phases of their history. Perhaps +a fourth type should be added, but this fourth type was what +naturalists call an aberrant type, and only comprised two colonizers, +Rut and Hore, whose aims were indistinct, and who had no clear idea +where they meant to go, or what they meant to do when they got there." + +After the first discovery of Newfoundland and the adjoining coast, +English official interest in the island declined, and English traders +were occupied for the time being with their intercourse with Iceland, +whence they obtained all the codfish they had need of. The new field +of exploration and enterprise was thus left for some twenty years to +others. At the beginning of the sixteenth century Gaspar Cortereal, a +brave Portuguese sailor, having obtained a commission from the King of +Portugal, made two voyages (in 1500 and 1501) with the object of +discovering a north-west passage to Asia, explored the coasts of +Greenland, Labrador, and Newfoundland, and finally lost his life on +the coast of Labrador (1501).[15] On the ground of these discoveries, +reinforced by the title conferred by the bull of Alexander VI., the +Portuguese asserted their claim to Newfoundland. Henceforward +Portuguese fishermen began to share the dangers and profits of the cod +fishery with the hardy folk of Normandy and Brittany, and with +Spaniards and Basques, who had followed fast in the footsteps of the +earliest discoverers. Hence we find that many names of places and the +east coast of the island are corruptions of Portuguese words, whilst +names on the south coast show a French or a Basque origin.[16] + +In a sense it is true that Newfoundland has owed everything to its +fisheries, but it is unfortunately also true that a sharp dissidence +between the interests of alien fisheries and the policy of local +development did much to retard the days of permanent settlement. That +the more southern races of Europe took a large part in the development +of the fisheries was only natural, inasmuch as the principal markets +for the dried and salted codfish were in the Catholic countries of +Europe. Continuously from the beginning of the sixteenth century the +opening of each season brought vessels of many nationalities to a +harvest which sufficed for all. We cannot say that at this time any +primacy was claimed for English vessels, but there is no reason to +doubt that Englishmen soon played a conspicuous part in opening up the +trade. By the time of Henry VIII. the Newfoundland industry was +sufficiently well known to be included with the Scotch and Irish +Fisheries in an exception clause to a statute which forbade the +importation of foreign fish. + +This statute is sufficiently noteworthy as an economic curiosity to be +set forth _in extenso_. + + "ACT 33 HENRY VIII., c. xi. + + "The Bill conceryning bying of fisshe upon the see. + + "Whereas many and dyvers townes and portes by the see side + have in tymes past bene in great welthe and prosperitie well + buylded by using and exercysing the crafts and feate of + fisshing by the whiche practise it was not onelie great + strengthe to this Realme by reason of bringing up and + encreasing of Maryners whensoever the King's Grace had neede + of them but also a great welthe to the Realme and habundance + of suche wherebie oure sovereigne Lorde the King the Lords + Gentilmen and Comons were alwais well served of fisshe in + Market townes of a reasonable price and also by reason of the + same fisshing many men were made and grewe riche and many + poure Men and women had therebie there convenyent lyving--to + the strengthe encreasing and welthe of this realme. + + "And whereas many and dyvers of the saide fissherman for their + singular lucre and advantage doe leve the said crafte of + fisshing and be confederate w Pycardes Flemynghes Norman and + Frenche-men and sometyme sayle over into the costes of + Pycardie and Flaunders and sometyme doo meete the said + Pycardes and Flemynghes half the see over. + + "Penalty on subjects bying fishe in Flaunders &c., or at sea + to be sold in England, L10. + + "And be it furder enacted by the auctoritie aforesaide that it + shall be lawful to all and every fissher estraunger to come + and to sell. + + "Provided furthermore that this Act or any thing therein + conteyned shall not extende to any person whiche shall bye eny + fisshe in any parties of Iseland, Scotlands, Orkeney, + Shotlande, Ireland, or Newland [Newfoundland]." + +The caution, however, suggested above must be borne in mind in +noticing the earliest mention of Newfoundland; the name was +indiscriminately applied to the island itself and to the neighbouring +coasts, so that it is for some time impossible to be sure whether it +is employed in the wide or narrow sense. It is certain, however, that +the island was becoming well known. Its position as the nearest point +to Europe made it familiar to the band of Northerly explorers. +Verrazzano, a Florentine, in the service of France, determined to +discover a western way to Cathay, sailed along America northward from +North Carolina, and placed the French flag on the territory lying +between New Spain and Newfoundland, which newly acquired territory was +thenceforth designated Norumbega or New France. All such original +annexations, whether pretended or real, were in the circumstances +extremely ill-defined; and maps of the time were frequently vague, +confusing, and contradictory. Cartier, on his way to sow the seeds of +a French Empire in North America, sailed past the coast (1534), and on +his second voyage (1535) foregathered with Roberval in the roadstead +of St. John's. Still earlier, in 1527, a voyage was made to the island +by John Rut, with the countenance of Henry VIII. and encouragement of +Cardinal Wolsey, but the authorities for this voyage are late and +unreliable. Purchas reproduces a valuable letter from John Rut (who +was a better sailor than scholar) to the King, from which it appears +that he found in the harbour of St. John's "eleven saile of Normans +and one Brittaine, and two Portugall barks, and all a fishing," as +well as two English trade-ships.[17] + +The later adventure--"voyage of discovery"--of Master Hore, in 1536, +which was undertaken "by the King's favour," is inimitably told by +Hakluyt. His co-adventurers are described as "many gentlemen of the +Inns of Court and of the Chancerie"; there were also a number of +east-country merchants. After missing their proper course, and almost +starving, they were succoured by a French vessel off the coast of +Newfoundland. The gentlemen of the long robe had been out of their +element up to this encounter, but Judge Prowse notes with proper +professional pride the tribute of Hakluyt: "Such was the policie of +the English that they became masters of [the French ship], and +changing ships and vittailing them, they set sail to come into +England." The extremities to which these adventurers were reduced +before their relief is horribly illustrated by the narrative of +Hakluyt: + +"Whilst they lay there they were in great want of provision and they +found small relief, more than that they had from the nest of an +osprey (or eagle) that brought hourly to her young great plenty of +divers sorts of fishes. But such was the famine amongst them that they +were forced to eat raw herbs and roots, which they sought for in the +maine. But the relief of herbs being not sufficient to satisfie their +craving appetites, when in the deserts in search of herbage, the +fellow killed his mate while hee stouped to take up a root, and +cutting out pieces of his body whom he had murthered, broyled the same +on the coals and greedily devoured them. By this means the company +decreased and the officers knew not what was become of them."[18] + +For many years we must be content with the knowledge that the fishing +resources of Newfoundland were growing in reputation and popularity. +Now and then the curtain is lifted, and we catch a glimpse of life on +the island. Thus Anthony Parkhurst, a Bristol merchant, who had made +the voyage himself four times, notes in 1578, in a letter written to +Hakluyt containing a report of the true state and commodities of +Newfoundland, that "there were generally more than 100 sail of +Spaniards taking cod, and from 20 to 30 killing whales; 50 sail of +Portuguese; 150 sail of French and Bretons ... but of English only 50 +sail. Nevertheless, the English are commonly lords of the harbours +where they fish, and use all strangers' help in fishing, if need +require, according to an old custom of the country."[19] + +Clearer still is our information when the ill-fated Sir Humphrey +Gilbert, the half-brother of Raleigh, visited the island in 1583. +Already in 1574 Gilbert, together with Sir Richard Grenville, Sir +George Peckham and Christopher Carleill, applied for a patent with a +view to colonizing "the northern parts of America"; but, though a sum +of money was raised in Bristol for this object, the scheme fell +through. Gilbert's perseverance, however, was by no means checked. For +in 1577 he submitted a project to Lord Burleigh, asking for authority +to discover and colonize strange lands, and incidentally to seize +Spanish prizes and establish English supremacy over the seas. The +following year he received a patent to discover, colonize, fortify, +own and rule territories not in the possession of friendly Christian +Powers--subject to the prerogation of the Crown and the claims of the +Crown to a fifth part of the gold and silver obtained. His settlements +were to be made within a period of six years. Having obtained the +support of such men as Sir George Peckham, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir +Philip Sidney, Richard Hakluyt, Thomas Aldworth, as well as of Sir +Francis Walsingham, the anti-Spanish minister, and of Bristol +merchants,[20] Gilbert set sail on June 11th, 1583, from Plymouth +with five vessels--the _Raleigh_ (200 tons) which was equipped by Sir +W. Raleigh, acting as vice-admiral, the _Delight_ (120 tons) on which +was Gilbert, as admiral, the _Swallow_ (40 tons) the _Golden Hind_ (40 +tons), and the _Squirrel_ (10 tons). Two days later the _Raleigh_ +returned on the ground, it seems, that her captain and many of her men +had fallen sick. The entire crew consisted of 260 men, including +shipwrights, masons, carpenters, smiths, miners, and refiners. They +took with them a good variety of music "for solace of our people, and +allurement of the savages"; a number of toys, "as morris dancers, +hobby horsse, and many like conceits to delight the savage people, +whom we intended to winne by all faire meanes possible"; and also a +stock of haberdashery wares for the purpose of barter. Gilbert reached +St. John's on August 3rd, 1583, with his four vessels, and found in +the harbour twenty Spanish and Portuguese ships and sixteen English +ships. The latter made ready to give battle to the newcomers; but as +soon as the English vessels were informed of the mission, "they caused +to be discharged all the great ordnance of their fleet in welcome," +and soon afterwards entertained their guests at their "summer garden." +The great importance of the errand was recognized, for it had no less +an object than to take possession of the island in the name of Queen +Elizabeth, by virtue of Cabot's discoveries, and the later acts of +occupation. Even then the small town of St. John's was not without +pretension to the amenities of social life. One, Edward Haie (or +Hayes), who was present--indeed he was the captain and owner of the +_Golden Hind_--and who has left us an account of the expedition,[21] +speaks of it as a populous and frequented place. According to the same +account, possession was taken of the territory on August 5th: "Munday +following, the General had his tent set up, who being accompanied with +his own followers, sommoned the marchants and masters, both English +and strangers to be present at his taking possession of those +countries. Before whom openly was read and interpreted unto the +strangers of his commission: by vertue whereof he tooke possession in +the same harbour of S. John, and 200 leagues every way, invested the +Queenes Majestie with the tith and dignitie thereof, had delivered +unto him (after the custome of England) a rod and a turffe of the same +soile, entring possession also for him, his heires and assignes for +ever: and signified unto al men, that from that time forward, they +should take the same land as a territorie appertaining to the Queene +of England, and himself authorized under her majestie to possesse and +enjoy it. And to ordaine lawes for the government thereof, agreeable +(so neere as conveniently might be) unto the lawes of England: under +which all people comming thither hereafter, either to inhabite, or by +way of traffique, should be subjected and governed." Gilbert's +authority was not seriously questioned; by virtue of his commission he +"ordained and established three lawes to begin with." They are given +by Hayes as follows: + + 1. Establishment of the Church of England. + + 2. Any attempt prejudicial to Her Majesty's rights in the + territory to be punished as in a case of High Treason. + + 3. Anyone uttering words of dishonour to Her Majesty should + lose his ears and have his goods and ship confiscated. + +"To be brief," concludes the same authority, "Gilbert dyd lette, +sette, give, and dispose of many things as absolute Governor there by +virtue of Her Majesty's letter patent." + +The passage in which Captain Hayes describes the Newfoundland of his +day must be of such interest to its present inhabitants that it is +worth while to set it out in full: + +"That which we doe call the Newfoundland, and the Frenchmen Bacalaos, +is an island, or rather (after the opinion of some) it consisteth of +sundry islands and broken lands, situate in the north regions of +America, upon the gulph and entrance of the great river called S. +Laurence in Canada. Into the which navigation may be made both on the +south and north side of this island. The land lyeth south and north, +containing in length betweene three and 400 miles, accounting from +Cape Race (which is in 46 degrees 25 minuts) unto the Grand Bay in 52 +degrees of septentrionall latitude. The iland round about hath very +many goodly bayes and harbors, safe roads for ships, the like not to +be found in any part of the knowen world. + +"The common opinion that is had of intemperature and extreme cold that +should be in this countrey, as of some part it may be verified, namely +the north, where I grant it is more colde than in countries of Europe, +which are under the same elevation: even so it cannot stand with +reason and nature of the clime that the south parts should be so +intemperate as the bruit hath gone. For as the same doe lie under the +climats of Briton, Aniou, Poictou, in France, between 46 and 49 +degrees, so can they not so much differ from the temperature of those +countries: unless upon the out coasts lying open unto the ocean and +sharpe winds, it must in neede be subject to more colde, then further +within the lande, where the mountaines are interposed, as walles and +bulwarkes, to defende and to resiste the asperitie and rigor of the +sea and weather. Some hold opinion, that the Newfoundland might be the +more subject to cold, by how much it lyeth high and neere unto the +middle region. I grant that not in Newfoundland alone, but in Germany, +Italy, and Afrike, even under the Equinoctiall line, the mountaines +are extreme cold, and seeldome uncovred of snow, in their culme and +highest tops, which commeth to passe by the same reason that they are +extended towards the middle region: yet in the countries lying beneth +them, it is found quite contrary. Even so all hils having their +discents, the valleis also and low grounds must be likewise hot or +temperate, as the clime doeth give in Newfoundland, though I am of +opinion that the sunnes reflection is much cooled, and cannot be so +forcible in the Newfoundland nor generally throughout America, as in +Europe or Afrike: by how much the sunne in his diurnall course from +east to west passeth over (for the most part) dry land and sandy +countries, before he arriveth at the West of Europe or Afrike, whereby +his motion increaseth heate, with little or no qualification by moyst +vapours, where on the contraire, he passeth from Europe and Africa +unto America over the ocean, from whence it draweth and carrieth with +him abundance of moyst vapours, which doe qualifie and infeeble +greatly the sunne's reverberation upon this countrey chiefly of +Newfoundland, being so much to the northward. Neverthelesse (as I sayd +before) the cold cannot be so intollerable under the latitude of 46, +47, and 48, especiall within land, that it should be unhabitable, as +some doe suppose, seeing also there are very many people more to the +north by a great deale. And in these south partes there be certain +beastes, ounces or leopards, and birdes in like manner which in the +sommer we have seene, not heard of in countries of extreme and +vehement coldnesse. Besides, as in the monethes of June, July, August, +and September, the heate is somewhat more than in England at those +seasons: so men remaining upon the south parts neere unto Cape Rece, +until after Hollandtide, have not found the cold so extreme, nor much +differing from the temperature of England. Those which have arrived +there after November and December have found the snow exceeding deepe, +whereat no marvaile, considering the ground upon the coast is rough +and uneven, and the snow is driven into the places most declyning, as +the like is to be seen with us. The like depth of snow happily shall +not be found within land upon the playner countries, which also are +defended by the mountaines, breaking off the violence of the winds and +weather. But admitting extraordinary cold in these south parts, above +that with us here: it cannot be so great as that in Swedland, much +less in Muscovia or Russia; yet are the same countries very populous, +and the rigor of cold is dispensed with by the commoditie of stoves, +warme clothing, meats and drinkes; all which neede not to be wanting +in the Newfoundland, if we had intent there to inhabite. + +"In the south parts we found no inhabitants, which by all likelihood +have abandoned those coastes, the same being so much frequented by +Christians: but in the north are savages altogether harmlesse. +Touching the commodities of this countrie, serving either for +sustentation of inhabitants, or for maintenance of traffique, there +are and may be made; so and it seemeth Nature hath recompensed that +only defect and incommoditie of some sharpe cold, by many benefits: +viz., with incredible quantitie and no less varietie of kindes of fish +in the sea and fresh waters, as trouts, salmons, and other fish to us +unknowen: also cod, which alone draweth many nations thither, and is +become the most famous fishing of the world. Abundance of whales, for +which also is a very great trade in the bayes of Placentia, and the +Grand Bay, where is made trane oiles of the whale. Herring, the +largest that have been heard of, and exceeding the alstrond herring of +Norway: but hitherto was never benefit taken of the herring fishery. +There are sundry other fish very delicate, namely the bonits, +lobsters, turbut, with others infinite not sought after: oysters +having pearle but not orient in colour: I took it by reason they were +not gathered in season. + +"Concerning the inland commodities as wel to be drawen from this land, +as from the exceeding large countries adioyning; there is nothing +which our east and northerly countries doe yeelde, but the like also +may be made in them as plentifully by time and industrie: namely, +rosen, pitch, tarre, sope, ashes, deel boord, mastes for ships, hides, +furres, flaxe, hempe, corne, cables, cordage, linnen-cloth, mettals, +and many more. All which the countries will aford, and the soyle is +apt to yeelde. + +"The trees for the most in those south parts, are firre trees, pine +and cypresse, all yielding gumme and turpentine. Cherrie trees bearing +fruit no bigger than a small pease. Also peare trees, but fruitlesse. +Other trees of some sorts to us unknowen. + +"The soyle along the coast is not deepe of earth, bringing foorth +abundantly peason, small, yet good feeding for cattel. Roses, passing +sweet, like unto our mucke roses in forme, raspases, a berry which we +call harts, good and holesome to eat. The grasse and herbe doth fat +sheepe in very short space, proved by English marchants which have +caried sheepe thither for fresh victuall, and had them raised +exceeding fat in lesse than three weekes. Peason which our +countrey-men have sowen in the time of May, have come up faire, and +bene gathered in the beginning of August, of which our generall had a +present acceptable for the rarenesse, being the first fruits coming up +by art and industrie, in that desolate and dishabited land. + +"We could not observe the hundredth part of these creatures in those +unhabited lands: but these mentioned may induce us to glorifie the +magnificent God, who hath superabundantly replenished the earth with +creatures serving for the use of man, though man hath not used the +fift part of the same, which the more doth aggravate the fault and +foolish slouth in many of our nation, chusing rather to live +indirectly, and very miserably to live and die within this realme +pestered with inhabitants, then to adventure as becommeth men, to +obtaine an habitation in those remote lands, in which Nature very +prodigally doth minister unto mens endeavours, and for art to worke +upon." + +The story of Gilbert's disastrous expedition and voyage home is well +known; how some of his men sailed off in a stolen vessel, some ran +away into the woods, and others falling sick were sent home in the +_Swallow_; how he set sail on August 20th (that is, after a stay on +the island of only a fortnight) with his three remaining vessels, +overloaded and under-manned as they were; how his vessels, after the +wreck of the _Delight_ off Sabre Island, were reduced to the _Golden +Hind_ and the _Squirrel_; how in a prodigious hurricane he refused to +transfer himself from the tiny _Squirrel_ to the larger vessel; and +how he died encouraging his ill-fated company--"We are as near heaven +by sea as by land." Though the expedition ended in disaster, and the +intention to found a settlement failed utterly, the bold enterprise +could not but exert a salutary influence on the hearts and souls of +other adventurers and promotors of colonization. As has been well +said:[22] "a halo of real enthusiasm illumines this foolish founder of +the greatest colonial empire in the world, and where a hero leads, +even though it be to ruin, others are apt to follow with enthusiasm, +for tragedies such as these attract by their dignity more than they +deter." More particularly, Gilbert's voyage is of great interest, +because we may reasonably associate him with the colonial ideas of his +greater half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh. The slow and difficult +process was beginning which was to make Newfoundland a permanent +settlement instead of the occasional resort of migratory fishermen. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] Rogers, _op. cit._, pp. 18-19. + +[15] The name Labrador is derived from the Portuguese word +"llavrador," which means a yeoman farmer. The name was at first given +to Greenland, and was afterwards transferred to the peninsula on the +assumption that it was part of the same territory as Greenland. The +origin of the name itself is due to the fact that the first +announcement of having seen Greenland was a farmer ("llavrador") from +the Azores. + +[16] Compare such names of places as Frenchman's Arm, Harbour Breton, +Cape Breton, Spaniard's Bay, Biscay Bay, Portugal Cove, Cape Race, +Port-aux-Basques, etc. + +[17] _Cf._ Purchas, "Pilgrims," vol. xiv. pp. 304-5. + +[18] Hakluyt, "Principal Navigations," vol. viii. p. 3. + +[19] Hakluyt, _op. cit._, vol. iii. + +[20] _Cf._ J. Latimer, "History of the Society of Merchant Venturers +of Bristol" (1903). + +[21] "A report of the voyage and successe thereof, attempted in the +yeere of our Lord 1583 by Sir Humfrey Gilbert Knight, with other +gentlemen assisting him in that action, intended to discover and to +plant Christian inhabitants in place convenient, upon those large and +ample countreys extended Northward from the cape of Florida, lying +under very temperate climes, esteemed fertile and rich in minerals, +yet not in the actuall possession of any Christian prince, written by +M. Edward Haie gentleman, and principall actour in the same voyage, +who alone continued unto the end, and by God's speciall assistance +returned home with his retinue safe and entire." See Hakluyt (ed. +1904), vol. viii. pp. 34 seq. + +[22] Rogers, _op. cit._, p. 40. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +EARLY HISTORY (_continued_). BEGINNING OF A PERFECT ENGLISH COLONY + + +We have seen that many nations shared in the profits of the +Newfoundland trade, but the English and French soon distanced all +other competitors. The explanation lies in the conflicting interests +which these two great and diffusive Powers were gradually establishing +on the American mainland. It is worth while anticipating a little in +order to gain some landmarks. In 1609 the colonization of Virginia +began in earnest; a few years later sailed the Pilgrim Fathers in the +_Mayflower_, to found New England. In 1632 Lord Baltimore founded +Maryland, to be a refuge for English Roman Catholics. Meanwhile, +France had not been idle in the great northern continent. The intrepid +Champlain trod boldly in the perilous footsteps of Cartier, and Port +Royal was founded in 1604, Quebec in 1608. Later still came the +splendid adventure of La Salle, who forced his way--a seventeenth +century Marchand--from the sources of the Mississippi to the Gulf of +Mexico, thus threatening to cut off the English settlers from +expansion to the west. A glance at the map will reveal the immense +strategic importance of Newfoundland to two Powers with the +possessions and claims indicated above. No doubt a consciousness of +deeper differences underlay the keenness of commercial rivalry. + +The hardy sailors, mainly from the west country, who carried on the +trade for England, came when the season began, and sailed away with +its close, returning in the following year to the portion of the beach +which each crew had pegged out for its own operations. A feeling of +proprietorship soon sprang from uninterrupted user, and signs of +jealousy appeared of any attempt at permanent settlement. This local +feeling, combining with interested influence at home, did much to +stunt the growth of the colony; the old colonization theory inherited +from Spain was still powerful, for the American Revolution had not yet +revealed the handwriting on the wall. + +In 1585 English vessels and sailors were seized in Spanish waters +under the pretext of a general arrest. Accordingly, by way of reprisal +Gilbert's plan of 1577 (which has already been referred to) was +revived by Walsingham, and Sir Walter Raleigh, then vice-admiral of +the western counties, was instructed to despatch vessels for the +purpose of intercepting Spanish fishermen proceeding to the +Newfoundland waters. A flotilla under the command of Sir Barnard Drake +(cousin of Sir Francis) sailed to Newfoundland, and took a +considerable number of Spanish and Portuguese prizes and prisoners. +The disaster to the Spanish Armada in 1588 was a drastic blow to +Spanish power at sea, a signal for England's maritime ascendancy, and +an impetus to more rational, consistent, and practical methods of +colonization, in which great Companies and great fleets +participated--fleets that prepared the way for the establishment and +development of our incomparable Navy, the mighty bulwark of our +Empire. The turning-point at the close of the sixteenth century is +thus indicated by Mr Rogers: "Large creative ideals, the usual +delusions about Cathay, gold, and silver, and a desire to retaliate +against Spain, inspired both Raleigh's and Gilbert's efforts; and +after their failures the history of colonization turned over a new +leaf. There were no more colonies founded in anger, the old delusions +about Cathay and gold and silver melted into thin air, and the large +Elizabethan ideals were accompanied by small projects, which after a +time dimmed and obscured them."[23] With James I. and the wise +influence of Bacon came an increased interest in the "plantations," +and God's silly vassal (as a justly irritated divine called the King +to his face) does not suffer in this respect from a comparison with +his contemporaries. + +After the colonization of Virginia and Maine had begun, Sir John +Popham, who had done much to set on foot the schemes relative to these +American settlements, recollecting the attempts that had been made to +colonize Newfoundland, suggested to the merchant adventurers of +Bristol that they should make new efforts to establish colonies on the +island. The King's support having been promised, funds were raised, +and a royal charter was granted to a company on April 27th, 1610, +designated "The Treasurer and the Company of Adventurers and Planters +of the City of London and Bristol for the Colony or Plantations in +Newfoundland." London and the West of England were thus associated, as +they had been in the Virginian Company of 1606. There were forty-six +members, including the Earl of Northampton, Sir Francis Bacon, Thomas +Aldworth, Mayor of Bristol, John Guy and Philip Guy of Bristol; and +the territory granted to them comprised the lands from Cape St. Mary +to Cape Bonavista. The same year John Guy, the first Governor, led out +the first colony to Newfoundland, landed at Conception Bay, and +selected for his capital Cuper's Cove (Port de Grave). Guy and his +companions then built a fort, a dwelling-house, a workshop, and a +boat, sowed corn, and made preparations for the winter. Next fishing +ordinances were issued by the Governor. "That struck the first note of +a conflict which was to last for 150 years, and of which the echoes +may yet be heard. The fishermen, merchants, and seamen who flocked to +the coast for the fishing season vehemently resented anything which +might seem to threaten their turbulent lawlessness, and the great +merchants in England, who were profiting by the fisheries, were +jealous lest the planters should in some way interfere with their +operations; but, for a time, the planters had sufficient influence +through the patentees in England to maintain themselves."[24] After a +sojourn of six summers--though only three winters--in Newfoundland, +Guy returned to Bristol, and spent the remainder of his life there in +his aldermanic dignity. + +He was succeeded (1615) in the Governorship by Captain John Mason who, +together with Sir Ferdinando Gorges, founded New Hampshire and Maine. +Mason stayed six years in the island; he explored it, prepared a map +of it, encouraged the growth of corn successfully, and with less +success endeavoured to establish commercial intercourse with the Red +Indians. + +In 1618 appeared the "Briefe discourse of the New-found-land by +Captain John Mason." After a discerning account of the attractions of +his theme, the writer concludes: + +"I might hear further discourse of our discoveries ... but these may +suffice as _verbum sapienti_; being of sufficient trueth to remouve +errours ... also to take away malicious and scandelous speeches of +maligne persons, who out of envy to God and good actions (instructed +by their father the Devill) have sought to despoil it of the dewe and +blamish the good name thereof." + +Disorders having occurred after Mason's arrival, Sir Richard +Whitbourne, an Exmouth sea-captain who had had many years fishing +experience in the Newfoundland waters, was despatched to investigate +the disputes between the settlers and the fishermen. He reported that +250 sail of English fishermen, and 400 of "French, Portugals, and +Biscaines" resorted to the coast. His mission failed, owing to the +dilatory nature of the inquiry and the difficulties in getting the +contesting parties to attend, as they were in scattered places. Then +the merchants, having an eye to their own profit, proceeded to divide +the occupied territory into a number of shares, which the recipients +afterwards resold.[25] "The colony from time to time shed portions of +itself, division led to sub-division, and new characters appeared upon +the scene."[26] Other companies were thus formed, charters granted, +and settlements made, most of which were confined to the peninsula of +Avalon. With these enterprises several distinguished names were +connected: for example, Sir William Vaughan, who sent out colonists in +1617 and 1618: Henry Cary, Lord Falkland, who bought land on the east +coast, called it South Falkland, despatched a number of emigrants, but +did not himself visit the island; Sir George Calvert, a leading Roman +Catholic, who took out co-religionists. + +In 1627 Sir George Calvert, better known as Lord Baltimore, was +granted by charter the fancifully named Province of Avalon (after +Avalon in Somersetshire), which embraced a considerable portion of the +island's area. Calvert established himself at Ferryland--the name +being a corruption of Verulam, so called after the great +Chancellor--and stayed only long enough to infuse a tenacious Roman +Catholic strain into the island. Finding the climate too cold, +however, he applied for a more southerly colony for himself and forty +companions. In reply, the King said that the climate was not too cold, +but that Sir George Calvert was too soft, and had better return home. +But he had in the meantime transferred himself and his forty followers +to the milder climes of the south, and there established Maryland, +whose capital, Baltimore, was named after the founder's family title. +Perhaps the turbulence of his surroundings, and the troubles with the +French, were not to his taste. Law and order were indeed far to seek, +and there were neither civil tribunals nor military forces. We may +suppose that the "Fishing Admirals," authorized by the Star Chamber +and confirmed in their authority by 10 and 11 William III., c. 25, +had already asserted a _de facto_ jurisdiction on the spot, for it is +hardly credible that the mere wantonness of legislative invention can +have produced such a tribunal. To anticipate for a moment: the Act +provided that the master of the first ship arriving from England with +the season should be admiral of the harbour; to the masters of the +second and third in order were given the titles of vice-admiral and +rear-admiral. To this tribunal were committed fishing disputes in +general, and the maintenance of peace among sailors and fishermen. It +may be supposed that these rough sailors were both corrupt and +inefficient. "I must be a pretty sort of a judge if I could not do +justice to myself," said one west country sailor, when charged with +delivering an interested judgment. At the close of the season the +judges disappeared, together with their cargoes of blubber and cod. + +In spite of all these drawbacks the island was gradually increasing in +reputation. Writers, as well as returned "planters" and visitors, did +much to make it known. Thus Sir Richard Whitbourne, to whom reference +has already been made, wrote in his "Discourse of Newfoundland" +(1622): "Divers worshipful citizens of the City of Bristol have +undertaken to plant a large circuit of that country, and they have +maintained a Colony of his Majesties subjects there any time those +five years who have builded there faire houses, and done many other +good services, who live there very pleasantly, and they are well +pleased to entertaine upon fit conditions such as wilbe Adventurers +with them." And he quotes from a letter from Captain Wynne of August +17th, 1622: "At the Bristow Plantation there is as goodly rye now +growing as can be in any part of England; they are also well furnished +with swine, and a large breed of goates, fairer by farre than those +that were sent over at the first." + +In 1628 Robert Hayman, who accompanied the above-mentioned expedition +of 1610, published a book entitled "Quodlibels, lately come over from +New Britaniola, Old Newfound-Land," etc. Among the "epigrams" are a +number of verses, in which he pays a tribute to leading North American +colonizers, sets out the advantages offered by the new colony, and +makes many apt and wise observations regarding colonization. The +reader will no doubt welcome a few passages, which he may regard--to +use Livy's phrase--as "deverticula amoena" in this account of our +subject. + +_To the Worshippful Captaine John Mason, who did wisely and worthily +governe there divers yeeres._ + + The aire in Newfound-land is wholesome, good; + The fire, as sweet as any made of wood; + The waters, very rich, both salt and fresh; + The earth more rich, you know it is no lesse + Where all are good, fire, water, earth, and aire, + What man made of these foure would not live there? + +_To all those worthy women, who have any desire to live in +Newfound-land._ + + Sweet creatures, did you truely understand + The pleasant life you'd live in Newfound-land, + You would with teares desire to be brought thither: + I wish you, when you goe, faire wind, faire weather: + For if you with the passage can dispence [= bear] + When you are there, I know you'll ne'r come thence. + +_In praise of my Newfound-land._ + + Did some know what contentment I found there, + Alwayes enough, most times somewhat to spare. + With little paines, lesse toyle, and lesser care, + Exempt from tanings, ill newes, lawing, feare.... + +_To the first Planters of Newfound-land._ + + What ayme you at in your plantation? + Sought you the honour of our nation? + Or did you hope to raise your owne renowne? + Or else to adde a kingdome to a crowne? + Or Christ's true doctrine for to propagate? + Or drawe salvages to a blessed state? + Or our o're peopled kingdome to relieve? + Or shew poore men where they may richly live? + Or poore mens children godly to maintaine? + Or aym'd you at your owne sweete private gaine? + +_To some discreet people who thinke anybody good enough for a +plantation._ + + When you doe see an idle, lewd, young man, + You say hee's fit for our plantation. + Knowing your selfe to be riche, sober, wise + You set your owne worth at an higher price. + I say, such men as you are, were more fit, + And most convenient for first peopling it: + Such men as you would quickly profit here: + Lewd, lazy lubbers, want wit, grace, and care. + +_To the famous, wise and learned sisters, the two Universities of +England, Oxford and Cambridge._ + + Send forth your sons unto our new plantation; + Yet send such as are holy, wise, and able. + +The same writer submitted to Charles I. a remarkable "proposition of +profitt and honour," in which he unsuccessfully called for the King's +help and patronage in regard to the colonization of the island.[27] + +In 1637 the Commissioners of Foreign Plantations, who had been +appointed three years before, resolved that the old colonial grants +had lapsed, and transferred them to new patentees, prescribing, under +the new fishing rules made by the Star Chamber (1634), one system and +area of control for settlers, and another for fishermen, and +restricting their respective activities. The first Governor under this +regime was Sir David Kirke, who established himself at Ferryland +(1638) with a number of settlers variously estimated at from thirty to +one hundred persons. His charter was a liberal one, embracing the +whole island, and was the reward of his gallantry in the capture of +Quebec. He introduced the practice of levying rent, imposing licence +fees, and exacting an excise of 5 per 120 fish on alien fishermen. The +convulsions of the Civil War were felt even in Newfoundland, and Kirke +paid for his Royalism by the loss, under the Commonwealth, of his +noble possession (1651). + +What has been described as a period of repression in the history of +Newfoundland began with the reign of Charles I. and continued to the +end of the eighteenth century. As a recent writer observes: "In the +fairy story it is the youngest sister, but the eldest sister is the +Cinderella of colonial history. If Newfoundland had experienced only +the healthful neglect under which the other colonies prospered, she +too would have grown into vigorous life. But a strong and influential +class in England was interested in harassing the settlers, in +depreciating the resources of the island, and in throwing every +obstacle in the way of permanent settlement. This policy came in with +Charles I. and continued down to the very commencement of the +nineteenth century. Captain Mason, Sir William Vaughan, and Captain +Whitbourne had written favourably of the island; but from their day +down to 1842, when Sir Richard Bonnycastle wrote his book, every +writer described it as barren; in summer gloomy with perpetual fog, +and in winter given over to excessive cold and blinding snowstorms. +The west country people of England, generation after generation, drew +from the fisheries of Newfoundland enormous profits, upon which +prosperous mercantile establishments and noble families were built up +and sustained in England. They considered and called them 'their' +fisheries, and their interests required that there should be no +resident population to compete in their monopoly, to share the best +fishing rooms, and to grow up to be dangerous rivals in foreign +markets. The influence of this class upon the government was +incessantly exercised in framing regulations and laws to choke the +growth of the colony. + +"The confused annals of this period can only be understood by +remembering the existence of two antagonistic parties, the 'planters' +and inhabitants on the one hand, who, being settled there, needed the +protection of a government and police, with administration of justice; +and the 'adventurers' or merchants on the other, who, originally +carrying on the fishery from England, and visiting the island only for +the season, needed no such protection for themselves, and had various +reasons for preventing its being afforded to the others. + +"If the Mother Country had only forgotten the island it would have +prospered; but in 1633 the English merchants succeeded in procuring +from the Star Chamber rules and regulations drawn solely to advance +their own private interests, and these rules were supplemented always +in the same direction, by the same oppressive agency."[28] + +At this time the resident population of the island cannot have +exceeded a few hundreds, and every step was adopted which a vicious +political economy could suggest to keep the numbers down. It was made +penal for a settler to dwell within six miles of the shore, for a +planter to cut down wood or plant within six miles from the shore, for +any planter or inhabitant to take up the best positions in the +harbours before the arrival of the fishing-fleet in the spring; and +every master who sailed with a crew to Newfoundland was under +bond--lest here and there a permanent settler should filter +through--to return with his exact complement of hands. Their Lordships +of the Committee of Trade and Plantations were not superior to the +prejudices of the day, and they resolved in 1675, "That all +plantations in Newfoundland should be discouraged ... or that the +western charter should from time to time be put in execution; by which +charter all planters were forbid to inhabit within six miles of the +shore from Cape Race to Cape Bonavista." Equally considerate and +attentive were the efforts of the home country to cope with crime in +the island. The Star Chamber ingeniously provided that persons charged +with homicide, or with stealing to the value of 40s., should be +brought home and submitted to the judicial experience of the Mayors +of Southampton, Weymouth, and other specified towns. The +discrimination may also be admired which prohibited stealing _from the +fishing nets_. It must be supposed that time hung heavily on the hands +of the settlers in the intervals of the fishing, for we find at the +period much time and industry wasted on petitions to the Committee of +Trade, who possibly treated them as Grenville's predecessors are said +to have treated the American despatches. The Board of Trade, which +inherited the duties and the incompetence of the Committee, proved +more complaisant, and was indeed prepared to tolerate permanent +settlers to the number of one thousand. A struggle was imminent, if +only they had known it, when the presence of a few thousand resolute +settlers in Newfoundland would be of high moment to the interests of +England. + +The life of such as were allowed to remain must have been wild and +strange, alternating between the populous alacrity of the fishing +season and the hand to mouth struggle of the long winter months. +Perhaps the amenities of life were not missed because they can hardly +have been known; but the restrictions on building and the absence of +local authority must early have given rise to bitterness and +discontent. Certainly we must admire the constancy of men who were +content to live, a solitary cluster, on the coast, with an unexplored +interior and savage inhabitants behind them, and with no more secure +prospect of material progress than a process of undetected squatting +on the forbidden ground. + + * * * * * + +With regard to the plantations that have just been mentioned, +reference may be conveniently made here by way of parenthesis to the +survival in Newfoundland of certain terminology and customs, which +form an interesting connecting-link between the early enterprises and +modern usage and practice. In the words of a writer[29] fully +conversant with the present conditions of the island: "Because of its +early 'plantations,' the word 'planter' is still current in the +insular vocabulary, and the 'supplying system' still prevails, the +solitary links which connect with these bygone days. A 'planter' in +Newfoundland parlance is a fish trader on a moderate scale, the +middleman between the merchant, who ships the cod to market and the +toiler who hauls it from the water. 'Plantations' are yet interwoven +with local tradition, and show on ancient maps and charts. The tenure +of some has never been broken; the names and locations of others are +perpetuated in the existing fishing hamlets which dot the shore line. +Under the 'supplying system' the merchants and planters 'supply' the +fisherfolk each spring with all the essentials for their adequate +prosecution of the industry, and when the season ends, take over their +produce against the advances, made them six months before. The +'merchants' are the descendants of the early 'merchant adventurers' +who exploited the new-found Colony." + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[23] _Op. cit._, p. 42. + +[24] Stanford's "Compendium of Geography and Travel" (new issue): +North America: vol. i. Canada and Newfoundland. Edited by H.M. Ami +(London, 1915), p. 1009. + +[25] See Rogers, _op. cit._, pp. 59 _seq._ + +[26] _Ibid._, p. 59. + +[27] See article by G.C. Moore Smith, in "English Historical Review," +vol. xxxiii. (1918), pp. 31 _seq._ + +[28] Stanford's "Compendium," pp. 1010, 1011. + +[29] P.T. M'Grath, "Newfoundland in 1911" (London, 1911), p. 46. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE + + +In the reign of Charles I. a duty of five per cent. had been imposed +on the produce of all foreign vessels engaged in the Newfoundland +trade. Twenty-five years later the French under Du Mont, then +proceeding to Quebec with a contingent of soldiers and colonists, +established a settlement at Placentia, on the southern coast, +fortified it, and made it the seat of a resident Governor. They +continued, however, to pay the duty in recognition of English +sovereignty. Charles II. abolished the duty to oblige his French +patron, and with the abolition began the history of French aggression. +Very soon after their establishment the French settlers repudiated +England's sovereignty over the south parts of Newfoundland, and from +time to time strengthened their colony by bringing over bands of +French immigrants. It was clear to many that the extension of French +power in Canada and Newfoundland was a serious menace to the English +fisheries and settlements: leading statesmen, however, refused to +recognize the danger, and believed that if any really existed, the +system of convoys would obviate it. The convoy-captains, enlarging +the sphere of their regular activities, saved the colony, and during +their intermittent visits took upon themselves the functions of +governors, and effectually prevented the diffusion of anarchy. The +Governors of the French colony made their presence felt more than the +English settlers could tolerate; they interfered with them unduly, +engaged in privateering expeditions and land forays against them, +destroyed their property, and burned down their houses. Indeed, more +than one French Governor conceived the notion, with the sanction of +the King of France, of putting an end entirely to English colonization +in the island. "The encroachments of the French," said William III., +in his Declaration of War, "on His Majesty's subjects trading and +fishing there, had been more like the invasions of an enemy than +becoming friends, who enjoyed the advantages of that trade only by +permission." With the outbreak of war came in sharp succession the +attacks of Chevalier Vesmond, and of Burrill, beneath the latter of +which all the island but Bonavista and Carbonier succumbed. + +The Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 was signed before the French had been +dislodged. Under its terms the invaders surrendered their conquests +and retired to the territory in the south-west, of which they were in +occupation when the war began. The anomaly of their claims, passed +over in silence by the Treaty, was certain to be the source of +mischief. In the language of Mr Pedley, "Over a territory of some 200 +miles in extent, belonging to the British sovereignty, they had built +up imperceptibly an almost undisputed dominion." Five years after the +Peace of Ryswick war broke out again. An English squadron under +Admiral Sir John Leake destroyed a number of French fishing-vessels +between St. Pierre and Trepassey (1702), and in the following year +Admiral Graydon failed to reduce Placentia, owing to sickness, bad +weather, as well as want of resolution. In January 1705 the French in +retaliation surprised and captured St. John's. From this point they +overran the English settlements, Carbonier once again weathering the +storm, and abandoned themselves to depredation and devastation, as +they had done in the conflict a few years before. + +The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 found the French still in possession. +The provisions of this Treaty require careful consideration. Full +sovereignty over the whole of Newfoundland and the neighbouring +islands was declared to belong to England. Placentia was to be handed +over. Article XIII. of the Treaty contains the following provisions: + +"Nor shall the most Christian King, his heir and successors or any of +their subjects, at any time hereafter lay claim to any right to the +said island.... Moreover, it shall not be lawful for the subjects of +France to fortify any place in the said island of Newfoundland, or to +erect any buildings there, besides _stages made of boards, and huts +necessary and useful for drying of fish_, or to resort to the said +island beyond the time necessary for fishing and drying of fish. But +it shall be allowed to the subjects of France to catch fish and to dry +them on land in that part only which stretches ... from Cape Bonavista +to the northern part of the said island from thence by the western +side as far as Cape Riche." + +The fishing concession to France herein contained was wholly +inexcusable. The latter country was in no position to refuse terms, +and an absolute reservation of all fishing rights should have been +insisted on in the interests of the colony. A culpable Ministry, +short-sightedly regarding Newfoundland as little more than a +fishing-station, chose rather to make a graceful concession, and we +inherited the consequences in our Newfoundland Fisheries controversy +with France, which lasted for nearly two centuries. However, the half +century following the Treaty of Utrecht--an important turning-point in +the history of the colony--marks a period of progress; and after +another Anglo-French conflict, from which the English emerged +victorious, we find in the ensuing half century the establishment of a +definite policy of colonial permanence. + +The abuses connected with the admirals' jurisdiction had been +partially corrected by the authority, on appeal from them, of the +King's commanders stationed off the island. Still, the evils were very +real, and extorted recognition even from the gang of west country +monopolists who strangled for so long the growth of the island. We +find a recommendation offered by them to the Board of Trade with +astounding assurance, that the 3000 odd men, women, and children, who +by this time composed the population of Newfoundland, "should be +encouraged to settle in Nova Scotia--as they might be of service +there, where inhabitants were wanted." + +The colonists themselves had other and better remedies. A +spontaneously elected Assembly passed ordinances which attest the +sincerity of the general desire for reform. In 1728 the informing zeal +of Lord Vere Beauclerk elicited a decisive step from the Board of +Trade, and Captain Henry Osborne was appointed the first Governor of +Newfoundland (1729), with authority to appoint justices of the peace. +Even at such a moment the cloven hoof of prejudice peeped through, and +Osborne and his justices were explicitly warned to interfere in no way +with the privileges of the admirals, as defined by 10 and 11 William +III. Governor Osborne addressed himself to his duties with great +energy. He appointed justices and constables, carved the island into +districts, and erected prisons and stocks. His influence was weakened +by his departure when the season ended, for till the nineteenth +century the governors, like the fish, were migratory. A tedious +quarrel followed between the justices and the admirals as to the +limits of their respective jurisdictions; the admirals, whose wits +seem to have been sharpened by judicial practice, insisting that their +own authority was derived from statute, whereas that of the justices +merely rested upon an Order in Council. + +In 1749 the great sailor Rodney, then a commander in the Navy, was +appointed Governor. He distinguished himself by a humane consideration +for the interests of the fishing servants. His answer to a petition +from the merchants for permission to lower the contract rate of wages, +in view of the badness of the season, has often been quoted, and is +pleasant to read: + +"Mr Drake and myself would be glad to ease the merchants in all that +lay in our power, but we are by no means capable of acting as desired, +to serve any people whatever. I have only one question to ask, namely: +'Had the season been good in proportion as it has proved bad, would +the merchants or boat-keepers have raised the men's wages?'" + +In 1750 came another advance. Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer were +appointed for the island; that is to say, persons authorized to "hear +and determine" on capital felonies committed in Newfoundland. This +change ended the costly farce by which such persons were sent to +England for trial. Seven years of development followed, to be broken +by the long struggle between England and France, which the splendid +genius of Pitt inspired and directed. He not only "conquered America +in Europe" by the prodigal carelessness with which he poured subsidies +into the treasury of Prussia, but he conceived and delivered in +America itself a death-blow to French ambition. In 1758 Amherst and +Wolfe, with a fleet of 150 vessels, were sent to attack Cape Breton, +and after assaulting Louisbourg, the capital, received the submission +of the island. In 1759 came General Wolfe's night assault on Quebec, +and the unforgettable battle in which he lost his life. The only +French success was gained at the expense of Newfoundland, for St. +John's surrendered to an adventurous French expedition under Count +d'Haussonville in June 1762. Admiral Lord Graves, the Governor, who +was on his voyage from England, received the news in time to prevent +him from landing. He vigorously concerted a plan of attack with +Admiral Lord Colville, who was in command at Halifax, and after a +lively investment the French garrison, numbering 700 or 800 strong +surrendered on terms (September 20th, 1762), but the French Navy +managed to escape, thanks to a fog. + +The Treaty of Paris in 1763 brought the war to an end. Its course had +afforded one more opportunity of simplifying the condition of the +fishing industry. The English Ministry, under the nerveless guidance +of Lord Bute, omitted to seize it, and the Newfoundland clauses of the +Treaty of Utrecht (which had granted to the French fishery and drying +rights on the coasts between Cape Bonavista and Point Rich) were +confirmed, notwithstanding the fact that the English settlers had +extended their occupation as far north as Twillingate, and French +fishermen had not for three decades previously been further south than +Fleur-de-Lys and White Bay. One clear, protesting voice was heard. "I +contended several times in vain," said Pitt, "for the whole exclusive +fishery, but I was overruled--I repeat, I was overruled, not by the +foreign enemy, but by another enemy." + +The House of Commons, under George III., was a corrupt and discredited +body; and the Treaty of Paris was affirmed by 319 votes to 65. It had +fallen to the lot of Governor Palliser--a fine reactionary in the view +he took of his charge--to frame local orders for carrying out the +provisions of the Treaty of Paris. His orders were clear and +unambiguous. The French right of fishing within the permitted area was +declared to be concurrent. The English jurisdiction was affirmed +except in disputes between French subjects. + +Between the capture of French America and the revolt of the older +English colonies a few years of peace intervened. Cook, the great +discoverer, who had served under Lord Graves in Newfoundland in 1762, +spent the four years from 1763 to 1767 in an invaluable survey of the +island, wherein he showed for the first time its correct shape, and +glancing inland foretold for it a great mining future. The annexation +of Labrador, affected by the proclamation of October 7th, 1763, added +to the area and importance of the colony. + +It would be unreasonable to look for religious enlightenment in the +early history of Newfoundland. "Coelum non animum mutant qui trans +mare currunt": there was little tolerance in the England of the +eighteenth century, and even the New England settlers had shamed their +faith by outrages on the Quakers. In Newfoundland religious feeling +ran high, as it has so often done when Roman Catholics and Protestants +live side by side. The Roman Catholic element in Newfoundland, though +a minority, was considerable in numbers: for the sorrows of Ireland +had brought many of her children from one sorely tried island to +another. The Protestant majority, forgetting the tradition of Lord +Baltimore, abused their supremacy. Heavy fines were inflicted on +priests for holding services, and the scenes of their ministrations +were burned to the ground. Mr Pedley quotes a letter, written by +Governor Dorrell, to a bench of magistrates in 1762: + +"Whereas I am informed that a Roman Catholic priest is at this time +in Harbour Grace, and that he publicly read Mass, which is contrary to +law, and against the peace of our Sovereign Lord the King; you are +hereby required and directed, on the receipt of this, to cause the +said priest to be taken into custody, and sent round to this place. In +this you are not to fail." + +Mr Pedley quotes a letter from Governor Bonfoy to certain justices, +which grimly illustrates the prevalence of crime in the eighteenth +century: + +"Whereas I think, for the good of this island in general, that gallows +should be erected in the several districts, in order to deter from +their robberies a parcel of villains, who think that they can do what +they please with impunity.... You are, therefore, hereby required and +directed to cause gallows to be erected in the most public places in +your several districts, and cause all such persons as are guilty of +robbery, felony, or the like crimes, to be sent round to this place in +order to take their trial at the annual assizes held here, as I am +determined to proceed against all such with the utmost severity of the +law. Given under my hand at St. John's, the 12th of October, 1754." + +Newfoundland was naturally affected by the rebellion of the American +colonies. Of these Montcalm, in 1758, had written with rare insight: +"The several advices I daily receive assure me England will one day +lose her colonies. As to the English colonies, one essential point +should be known: it is, that they are never taxed. The Mother Country +should have taxed them from the foundation; I have certain advice that +all the colonies would take fire at being taxed now."[30] The +expulsion of the French from America had already lessened the +dependence of the colonies upon the home country, when the House of +Commons directed its corrupt and blighting attention to the English +colonial system. The Stamp Act was passed in 1764, and repealed in +1766. In 1768 came Charles Townshend's mischievous duty on tea; and +the American Congress met at Lexington in 1774. At this time the +resident population of Newfoundland amounted to over 12,000[31] and it +was soon realized that the colony would be gravely affected by the +outbreak of war. Congress at once prohibited all trade with the +English colonies. The seriousness of this blow was extreme, for +Newfoundland was largely dependent upon the American trade for the +necessaries of life. Want and tempest worked together for ill, and the +year 1775 is one of the blackest in the history of the colony. The +treaty with France in 1778 brought to the American colonists a success +which their resources and, it must be added, their resolution could +hardly have won alone, and once more exposed Newfoundland to European +attacks. It was protected by the energy and resource of Governor +Montague. + +In 1775 came the very important Act known as Palliser's Act. This +statute was based on the old selfish and restrictive view that +Newfoundland should be a training ground for the Navy, and a place of +trade, not a permanent settlement. Bounties were given to the fishing +industry, and stringent measures were provided to ensure that masters +trading to the island should return with undiminished crews. The +privilege of drying fish was to be enjoyed only by such of the King's +subjects as sailed to Newfoundland from Great Britain, or from one of +the British dominions in Europe. + +An interesting light upon the economic condition of the colony is +thrown by the following figures: + +Estimate of the sums necessary to pay the salaries of the Governor and +Civil Officers in the Island of Newfoundland from April 1st, 1787, to +April 1st, 1788: + + L s. d. +Salary of the Governor 500 0 0 +The Governor's Secretary 182 10 0 +The Judge of the Admiralty 200 0 0 +The Naval Officer 100 0 0 +The Agent 100 0 0 +On Account, for Fees on Receipt and Audit 100 0 0 + + L1,182 10 0 + +It will be of interest to give here a few figures as to the growth of +the English population in order to show that colonial developments +were proceeding in the right direction. "Residents grew apace, as the +increase of women and children from 612 in 1710 to 1,356 in 1738, and +to 2,508 in 1754 attested. Heads of families accounted for a third +more, so that in round numbers permanent residents were 800 in 1710, +1,800 in 1738, and 3,400 in 1754. The ship's crews of English ships, +for whose sake the older theorists taught that the fisheries primarily +existed, numbered 3,600 in 1738 and 4,500 in 1754, so that they +outnumbered residents, in the strictest sense of the word residents. +But if residents included all those who wintered on the island, they +outnumbered ship's crews during this half-century. On the other hand, +if passengers were added to ships' crews, the visitors outnumbered the +settlers, except when there were war scares....[32] Between 1764 and +1774 residents for the first time continuously outnumbered visitors. +During these years the winter residents, including male hangers-on as +well as settlers, averaged 12,340; and visitors, including +'passengers' as well as ships' crews, averaged 11,876; or excluding +male hangers-on from the one side and passengers from the other side, +residents averaged 5,660 and visitors 5,435. Figures no longer yielded +an uncertain sound. The Rubicon was only just crossed, but was +indisputably and irrevocably crossed. Thenceforth the living-rooms +were larger than the corridors, and political arithmetic pointed at +the permanent occupants as the men of destiny. In 1764 the new tilt of +the balance struck the law officers of the Crown, who wrote that it +was 'disgraceful to suffer' the Act of 1699 'to remain in the Statute +Book' as circumstances had so much changed. This disproportion +increased; and the 12,000 inhabitants of 1764-74 swelled to 17,000 in +1792, 20,000 in 1804, and 52,000 in 1822, without any corresponding +increase on the part of those who appeared every spring and faded away +every autumn, like leaves or flowers."[33] + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[30] Quoted in Egerton's "History of British Colonial Policy." + +[31] But see the end of the present chapter in regard to the character +and fluctuations of the population. + +[32] For example, in 1745, 1746, 1757. + +[33] Rogers, _op. cit._, pp. 122-123, 137-138. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE ENGLISH COLONIAL SYSTEM AND ITS RESULTS + + +The War of American Independence forms a convenient point at which to +examine for a moment in passing the English colonial system, of which +Newfoundland was in some sense a victim. It may then at once be stated +that in the English view, as in the Spanish view, a "plantation" was +expected, directly or indirectly, to contribute to the wealth of the +Mother Country. If it contributed much, it was a good colony; if +little, its consequence was less. Hence the English legislation +throttling colonial manufacturers in the supposed interests of English +merchants, and confining colonial trade to English channels. Hence the +disregard, persistent and unashamed, of Adam Smith's immortal saying: +"To prohibit a great people from making all that they can of every +part of their own produce, or from employing their stock and industry +in the way that they judge most advantageous to themselves, is a +manifest violation of the most sacred rights of mankind." Long before +Smith, the wisest of Englishmen had sounded a clear note of warning +far in advance of his age. Bacon wrote in his essay on plantations: +"Let there be freedom from custom, till the plantation be of strength: +and not only freedom from custom, but freedom to carry their +commodities where they make their best of them, except there be some +special cause of caution." + +Any stick has been thought good enough to beat those who lost America, +but we must not suppress the little that may be urged on their behalf. +Here again may be cited the dispassionate opinion of Adam Smith: +"Though the policy of Great Britain with regard to the trade of her +colonies has been dictated by the same mercantile spirit as that of +other nations, it has, upon the whole, been less illiberal and +oppressive than that of any of them." To the same effect Mr Lecky: "It +is a gross ... misrepresentation to describe the commercial policy of +England as exceptionally tyrannical." In fact, the expense of +protecting Newfoundland and America against French attacks was serious +and constant. That the colonies owed contribution to that defence is +clear, for it would be involved in any other view that an American +enjoyed a natural right to be protected against France at the charges +of a Londoner. In the face of all this the colonies were conspicuously +and notoriously unable to agree upon any principle of allocating +grants. In this respect Newfoundland was no better than the American +colonies. "We should be extremely concerned," wrote a merchant +officially consulted on the point, "to see any species of taxes +introduced into this island which would inevitably be burdensome and +inconvenient to the trade and fishing in general, and we trust that in +the wisdom of His Majesty's Ministers no such innovation will take +place." + +The attempt, then, to tax from home was defensible, and Chatham was +clearly wrong in denying its legality. On the other hand, to persevere +in the attempt was the folly of weakness, mistaking obstinacy for +strength. + +It must be remembered, as a partial extenuation of English selfishness +in Newfoundland, that the long arm of England was ever extended for +the colony's protection, and that the charges therefor were defrayed +by the English taxpayer. Hence the view followed, naturally but +unfortunately, that the island was an asset to be exploited +commercially in the interests of the home country. + +In 1783 the Treaty of Versailles revised the French rights conferred +by the Treaty of Utrecht. The French boundary was contracted from Cape +Bonavista to Cape St. John on the east coast, and was extended from +Point Riche to Cape Ray on the west. The whole subject of the French +claims will be examined in a separate chapter,[34] but a very +important undertaking set forth in the Treaty of Versailles must not +be omitted: + +"His Britannic Majesty ... that the fishermen of the two nations may +not give cause for daily quarrels, was pleased to engage that he would +take the most positive measures for preventing his subjects from +interrupting in any measure by their competition, the fishing of the +French during the temporary exercise thereof which is granted to them +upon the coasts of the island of Newfoundland, and that he would for +that purpose cause the permanent settlements which should be formed +there to be removed, and that he would give orders that the French +fishermen should not be incommoded in the cutting of wood, necessary +for the repair of their scaffolds, huts, and fishing boats." + +In the time of Governor Milbanke, in 1791, an Act of Parliament +tardily created "the Court of Civil Jurisdiction of our Lord the King +at St. John's in the island of Newfoundland," which Court was +empowered to try all civil cases except those relating to land, and +which usually began actions by the peremptory procedure of arresting +the defendant and attaching his goods. The following year a supreme +Court of Civil and Criminal Judicature was instituted which superseded +the Court erected the previous year, put an end to the authority of +the "fishing-admirals," of the Courts held in summer by surrogates +(naval commanders visiting the island) and of the Courts of Session +held in winter by local justices of the peace, and was empowered to +try all persons charged with criminal offences and determine civil +suits, including those relating to land, and to make arrest and +attachment in civil suits discretionary and alternative. The +jurisdiction of the Court was renewed annually, then triennially; and +John Reeves, to whose history all writers on Newfoundland owe so much, +was appointed the first Chief Justice; but he remained in the island +only till 1792, when he was succeeded by ex-surgeons, collectors of +customs, and merchants. In 1809 a perpetual Act was passed, which +purported to abolish definitely the diverse and sporadic +jurisdictions; but such is the force of old customs and practices that +it was not till 1824 that the old Session Courts, Courts of Surrogates +and of fishing-admirals were finally extinguished, and at the same +time two assistant judges were appointed to aid the Chief Justice, and +all three judges were to be English or Irish barristers. A Court of +Civil Jurisdiction was also created for Labrador. We may recall here +the observations of Chief Justice Reeves on the fishing-admirals: +"They are ever the servants of the merchants. Justice was not to be +expected from them; and a poor planter or inhabitant, who was +considered little better than a law-breaker in being such, had but a +small chance of justice in opposition to any great west-country +merchant. They considered that Newfoundland was theirs, and that all +the planters were to be spoiled and devoured at their pleasure." It +must be recorded that this most just and necessary reform in judicial +administration was vainly but bitterly opposed by the merchants at +home. + +In 1793 came the war with revolutionary France, and Newfoundland was +once again in a bustle of defensive preparation. The Governor, +Vice-Admiral King, took possession of St. Pierre. The French, under +Admiral Richery, threatened St. John's, but desisted in face of the +vigour of the new Governor, Admiral Sir Richard Wallace (1796), who +raised volunteers, strengthened the forts, and prepared new batteries. +In 1797 the mutiny at the Nore broke out, provoked by real grievances. +As far off as Newfoundland the spirit of disaffection spread, and an +outbreak occurred on H.M.S. _Latona_, then lying in the harbour of St. +John's. It was quelled by the resolution of Captain Sothern; and +Governor Waldegrave (1797-1800), afterwards Lord Radstock, summoned +the mutineers before him and addressed them in the presence of the +Royal Newfoundland Regiment, whom they had tried to affect with +sedition. "I may venture to say," the Governor writes home, "my speech +was of much service." It was certainly of much vigour. "If I am to +judge from your conduct," he said, "I must think that the majority of +you are either villains or cowards. If the greater number of you are +against your officers, ... I have a right to say that you are +traitors.... If there are only a few bad men among you, which you +pretend to be the case, I maintain that you are a set of dastardly +cowards, for suffering yourselves to be bullied by a few villains, who +wish for nothing better than to see us become the slaves of France.... +You were all eager for news and newspapers to see how your great +delegate, Parker"--the ringleader at the Nore--"was going on. I thank +God I have the satisfaction to inform you that he is hanged.... You +looked up to him as an example whilst he was in his glory. I recommend +you to look to his end as an example also.... I have now to tell you +that I have given orders to all your officers, that in case any +further signs of mutiny should appear among you, they are not to think +of confining the ringleaders, but to put them to death instantly; and, +what is still more, I have given orders to the officers commanding the +batteries, to burn the _Latona_ with red-hot shot, in case you drive +me ... to that extremity. I know in this case the officers must perish +with you; but there is not one of them but is ready to sacrifice +himself for the good of his country.... And now go to church, and pray +God to inspire you with such sentiments as may acquire you the respect +and love of your countrymen in this world and eternal happiness in the +next." + +This speech, which was rescued from oblivion by the industry of Mr +Pedley, came clearly from a man of energy and resolution. In fact, +Governor Waldegrave proved himself to possess unusual resource and +vigour. He was the creator of the Newfoundland system of poor relief, +and he busied himself actively in the interests of religion. On the +latter subject it is pleasant to note a spirit of growing breadth in +the island. In particular, the loyal labours of the Roman Catholic +Bishop O'Donnell opened up a new era of tolerance for his followers. +To this Bishop was due the discovery, in 1802, of a plot among the +locally enlisted Royal Newfoundland Regiment, to loot St. John's and +then fly to the United States. The ringleaders were executed, and the +mutinous regiment was replaced by one from Halifax. + +The war with France was for the time being terminated by the Peace of +Amiens (1802), whereby the conquered territory was to be restored--so +that St. Pierre and Miguelon were returned to France; and her fishing +rights were renewed on the same basis as was laid down in the Treaty +of Utrecht. + +In 1802, by which time the population of the island amounted to about +twenty thousand persons, Governor Gambier (1802-1803), who was in +advance of his age in his views on government, as well as on the +education of the settlers, and the civilization of the Beothics, +proposed to Lord Hobart the establishment of a legislative power in +Newfoundland, similar to that which has been found necessary to the +prosperity and good government of other parts of the British +dominions. The suggestion was treated as premature, and probably was +so in fact. That it should have been made at all shows how far we have +travelled from the swaddling clothes of monopoly. However this may be, +two important civilizing agencies were introduced in 1805 and 1806--a +regular post office, and a newspaper (the _Royal Gazette_). + +In 1810 began Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Duckworth's period of office, +which soon revealed a Governor of energy and intelligence. He +journeyed to the northern settlements and Labrador to learn the +condition and needs of the population; he tried to secure friendly +relations with the Red Indians of the country, and set up a hospital +in St. John's. Amongst other reforms he procured the passing of a +statute in 1811 (51 George III.) authorizing him to grant leases of +certain ships' rooms at St. John's then in public occupation. +Following up in this way the useful work of Governor Gower +(1804-1807), he used his leasing power to promote the building of +warehouses and wharves. The idea that the inhabitants of St. John's +had a right to make it habitable was slowly gaining ground. Duckworth +was an able and far-seeing man, and his report on the condition of the +island, furnished to the home authorities at the end of his +governorship, was a lucid and memorable document. His condemnation of +the building restrictions paved the way for the fearless agitation of +Dr. William Carson. A distinguished medical graduate of Edinburgh, +Carson incurred the dislike of Governor Duckworth, and his successor, +Governor Keats, by his outspoken pamphlets. Indeed, there was nothing +equivocal in Carson's views: + +"The only remedy against the evils flowing from the present system +will be found in giving to the people, what they most ardently wish, a +civil Government, consisting of a resident Governor, a Senate House, +and House of Assembly." + +Hitherto the population had possessed no voice in the administration +of their own affairs. The Governors exercised an absolute power, which +to progressive minds appeared to be an indifferent and unnecessary +despotism. So far as Newfoundland affairs were concerned they almost +invariably adopted an ultra-conservative attitude, and were hostile to +proposals for amelioration called for in the changing circumstances of +the colony. Thus the demand for self-government became more and more +general. + +The Anglo-American War which began in 1812 ushered in a period of +great prosperity to Newfoundland. Fish were plentiful, prices good +beyond precedent, and wages high in proportion. + +The Great European War was terminated by the Battle of Waterloo on +1815, and peace was restored by the Treaty of Paris. Under the latter +the French regained the right of fishing on the banks and shores of +Newfoundland. The privileges of Americans to fish in British waters +were also enlarged. In favour of their own fishermen, both the French +and American governments then established a system of bounties, and by +imposing high duties prevented the importation of Newfoundland fish +into their own markets. Thus the Newfoundland fishermen were obliged +to compete with their rivals on very unequal terms. + +Governor Pickmore, who succeeded Governor Keats in 1816, was +confronted with a very difficult state of things. The high prices +which had ruled from 1812 to 1815 had attracted emigrants in large and +undesirable numbers. The commercial reaction and foreign competition, +aided by the bounties, hit the merchants hard, and in 1815 bankruptcy +trod fast on the heels of bankruptcy. In the following winter actual +starvation menaced the residents, and many owed their lives to the +generosity and energy of Captain David Buchan, commander of H.M.S. +_Pike_, who put his men on short rations for the relief of the +inhabitants. In an address of thanks, which was presented to him when +the crisis was past, his services were gratefully recorded: + +"At this distressing crisis you afforded us from His Majesty's store a +supply in aid of our then alarming and terrible wants. You then, with +patriotic feeling, placed the company of the ship which you command +on reduced allowance, and yielded to the public distress every +alleviation which such means afforded." + +The lean years were still further saddened by the terrible fire of +1817, which left more than a thousand persons houseless, in the full +severity of winter. The wooden houses and narrow streets of St. John's +made resistance hopeless, when the flames had once gained a hold. It +was estimated that the fire caused a loss of L125,000. The wealthier +inhabitants and the home Government gave what relief was possible, and +in 1818 the crisis yielded before brighter prospects. + +Pickmore was the first Governor to reside continuously in the island +(where he also died), for his predecessors had sailed away with the +fishermen in October to reappear with the beginning of summer. In 1817 +a Select Committee of the House of Commons was specially appointed to +consider the situation of Newfoundland. The merchants, full as ever of +vicious political economy, had two remedies to propose for the +admitted distresses. One was the concession of bounties to place them +on a level with French and American competition; the other was the +removal of the population (then numbering 17,000) to Nova Scotia or +Canada. Determined to omit nothing which might make them the derision +of history, they added an emphatic opinion that agriculture could +never thrive on the island. + +On the appointment of Governor Pickmore, Lord Bathurst had given him +the following instructions: + +"As the colony has of late years, from the rapid increase of the +population, assumed a character totally different from that under +which it had been usual previously to consider it, I am most desirious +of receiving from you your opinion as to the propriety of introducing +any and what change into the system of government which has heretofore +prevailed." + +The seeds sown by Carson were beginning to bear fruit, and from 1821 +onwards the desire for local government in the island grew +continuously stronger. As against the arguments of the opposition, it +was urged that all the British colonies, even the small Bermuda, had a +local government; that Nova Scotia was granted it as far back as the +middle of the eighteenth century; that the older American colonies had +always enjoyed self-government; and that the time had now come for the +extension of the same privilege to Newfoundland. The authority of +Governor Cochrane, who was appointed in 1825, and whose term of office +lasted till 1834, was limited by the appointment of a Council, +consisting of the Chief Justice, the two assistant Judges, and the +Military Commander at St. John's. Under this Governor roads were for +the first time laid out in the island. The irritation of the merchants +at home was intense, and the name of Peter Ougier, a west country +merchant, ought to go down to posterity. In his evidence before the +committee, he protested with real emotion: "They are making roads in +Newfoundland: next thing they will be having carriages and driving +about." Sir Thomas Cochrane was regarded as the best Governor ever +sent to Newfoundland. He was "the first real administrator and ruler +of the colony. An eminently practical man, he not only organized +improvements, he personally superintended their execution. His +activity was unbounded; in the early mornings he was out on horseback +inspecting the roads, directing his workmen, laying out the grounds at +Virginia, having interviews with the farmers, giving them practical +hints about agriculture; everywhere he impressed his strong +personality on colonial affairs. He was very sociable, and his +hospitality was unstinted." Indeed, the historian of the island can +point to only one mistake committed by the Governor, the bad taste +shown in the erection of Government House, which "looks more like a +prison than the Vice-regal residence ... it is a huge pile of +unredeemed ugliness."[35] + +In England, in the early thirties, reform was in the air. The blow was +struck at the right time, and in 1832--the year of the great Reform +Bill--Parliament passed a measure creating in Newfoundland a +representative assembly. The island was divided into nine electoral +divisions, each of which was to have one or more representatives, +according to population. There were, in fact, fifteen members. The +first election passed off quietly in the autumn of the same year. Dr. +Carson, the father of Home Rule, stood for St. John's, and Mr Justice +Prowse has usefully noted that he was defeated. The fickleness and +ingratitude of the people were never more dramatically illustrated. +"He had been the pioneer of the new movement, had suffered in the +people's cause, and yet the public, 'that many-headed monster +thing--the mob,' were the first to cast aside their leader in the +fight for Home Rule, and to give their votes and support to a new and +untried man." It was said, however, that the defeat was due to an +electioneering trick, whereby a false report was spread as to the +attitude of the veteran in the liberal cause.[36] "The House of +Assembly of 1833 was the youngest constituent body in America, but it +was not one whit behind any of them in stately parliamentary pageant +and grandiloquent language. H.B. (Doyle) in London caricatured it as +the 'Bow-wow Parliament' with a big Newfoundland dog in wig and bands +as Speaker putting the motion: 'As many as are of that opinion +say--bow; of the contrary--wow; the bows have it.'"[37] + +A nominated Legislative Council had been provided by the Constitution +of the Colony. The relations of the Chambers have always been delicate +in the British colonies, and in Newfoundland friction soon arose. The +Legislative Council, under Chief Justice Boulton--who improperly +called himself the Speaker instead of the President--set itself to +thwart and discredit the popular Chamber. On both sides the +controversies were petty, and were conducted in a petty spirit. The +popular assembly described itself as "the Commons House of Assembly in +Parliament assembled"; whereupon it was ordered forthwith to strike +out the word "Parliament." The Legislative Council appears to have +been the more cantankerous, and the less prone to compromise. At last +matters reached an _impasse_, for the Council began to throw out +Supply and Revenue Bills. In the first year of the Queen's reign, when +Canada was already full of trouble, delegates from the Newfoundland +House of Assembly arrived in London. Their mission was in the main +successful. The Council was recommended to adopt the Appropriation +Bill, and Chief Justice Boulton was summarily dismissed. "Boulton," +says Mr Justice Prowse, "had undoubted ability, but he was the worst +possible selection for both the Council and the Bench. His views, both +of law and legislation, were most illiberal; as a technical lawyer he +was mostly right and sublimely independent, but his harsh sentences, +his indecent party spirit, and his personal manners caused him to be +hated as no one else was ever hated in this colony."[38] + +In 1838 occurred the Kielly affair, which has added a leading case to +English constitutional law. Dr. Kielly assaulted, or was said to have +assaulted, Mr John Kent, who was a member of the Assembly. Mr Kent +brought the matter before the Assembly as a breach of privilege. The +House refused to hear witnesses on Kielly's behalf, treated the charge +as proved, and demanded that he should apologize at the bar of the +House. Kielly refused, adding that Kent was a liar and a coward. Then +followed an interlude of comic opera. Kielly was committed, whereupon +Mr Justice Lilly granted a writ of _habeas corpus_. This was not to be +borne by the imperious Assembly, and the Speaker promptly issued his +warrant for the re-arrest of Kielly, the arrest of the High Sheriff, +and of Judge Lilly. Nothing like it had been seen since the heyday of +the Wilkes litigation in England, when the House of Commons committed +the Sheriff of Middlesex to prison for carrying out the orders of the +Court of King's Bench. + +In the unruffled atmosphere of the Privy Council the legal question +found its decision.[39] It was laid down that the Crown, by its +prerogative, can create a Legislative Assembly in a settled colony, +with the government of its inhabitants: but that it is highly doubtful +whether the Crown could, if it wished, bestow upon such an Assembly an +authority, such as that of committing for contempt, not incidental to +it by law. "The House of Assembly of Newfoundland," said Chief Baron +Parke, "have not, what they erroneously supposed themselves to +possess, the same exclusive privileges which the ancient law of +England has annexed to the Houses of Parliament." + +In 1838 the members of the Assembly were elected for four years, and +this term has continued ever since. + +The colony was destined to pass now through bitter trials. Having +secured freedom, after much suffering and oppression, it soon learnt +that freedom without common sense and moderation degenerates into +licence, and becomes a menace and a terror. The election of +representatives was accompanied by scenes of turbulence and disorder: +the sense of toleration and compromise was absent. Half of the +population were Roman Catholics of Irish descent, in whom rankled +memories of ancient wrongs; the other half were Protestants of English +descent, long used to ascendency, who were headed by a wealthy +commercial class. With the introduction of the new regime old +distrusts and hostilities were rekindled, and an unscrupulous press +fanned the flames. Religion became mixed up with the political +contention; and the evil passions that were aroused, and the outrages +that were committed held back for some time the progress of the +community and the political development of the colony. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[34] See _infra_, chap. x. + +[35] D.W. Prowse, "History of Newfoundland," second edition (London, +1896), pp. 424, 425, 426. + +[36] Prowse, _op. cit._, pp. 429, 430. + +[37] _Ibid._, p. 431. + +[38] Prowse, _op. cit._, p. 434. + +[39] Kielly _v._ Carson (1842), Moore's Privy Council Cases, vol. iv., +pp. 63, 88. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SELF-GOVERNMENT + + +The political faculty in Newfoundland was so rudimentary at this +period that from 1841 to 1843 it became necessary to suspend the +Constitution. In the autumn of 1840 an election riot at Carbonear +occurred, which was of such a serious character that the sympathies of +the British ministry with Newfoundland affairs were alienated, and the +Governor was ordered to dissolve the Legislature. He did this on April +26th, 1841, and in his speech pointed out the reason for such drastic +action: "As a Committee of the House of Commons has been appointed to +enquire into the state of Newfoundland, before which Committee I shall +have to appear, I will on the present occasion confine myself to the +expression of my regret that such a proceeding should have become +indispensably necessary to the tranquillity and welfare of the +colony." Until 1849 the government was carried on by a General +Assembly--a makeshift Assembly--in which members of the House of +Assembly sat side by side with members of the Council, the latter +losing their distinctive functions. + +Under Governor Prescott (1834) and Governor Harvey (1841) began +organized attempts to foster the agricultural interest. Liberal grants +of land were made to poor settlers, and considerable sums voted for +the construction of roads. This was indeed a period of healthy +activity, for the development of the seal fishery added in a variety +of ways to the prosperity of the island, and the invention of steam, +together with the establishment of a regular mail service, brought +Newfoundland very much nearer to the home country. + +On June 9th, 1846, came the last great fire but one which has ravaged +the colony. By great misfortune it broke out when a high wind was +blowing, and spread with fatal rapidity all over the town. Buildings, +public and private, wooden and stone, were involved in a common +destruction, and the last touch of horror came when the large oil vats +fringing the harbour caught fire. The Custom House, the Church of St. +John's, the Courts and Gaol, the Theatre, the Bank of British North +America, the Colonial Treasurer's Office, and the Savings Bank, were +all destroyed. It was estimated that the aggregate amount of damage +done was L1,000,000, and that upwards of 12,000 persons lost their +homes. In this crushing affliction the spirit shown by all classes, +from Governor Harvey downwards, was admirable. At a representative +meeting of the citizens convened by the Governor it was resolved: + +"That this meeting is aware that the well-established credit and +stability of the trade of St. John's, coupled with the natural and +inexhaustible resources of its fisheries, will speedily enable it to +recover its usual current, but that in the meantime it is necessary +that publicity should be given to the demand for provisions and +building materials which at present exists in this market." + +Help from Canada was quickly forthcoming and a grant of L30,000 from +the home country combined with private efforts to meet the most +pressing needs of the moment. The building of wider streets, the +proscription of wooden houses, and the provision of an ampler water +supply, showed that the lessons of the past had not been thrown away. + +That year, 1846, was to be an _annus mirabilis_, for a storm, fiercer +than the wildest within living memory, wrought havoc among the +shipping in St. John's Harbour, and overwhelmed many substantial +buildings inland. It seemed as if the malice of destiny had sent the +gale to destroy the little that had escaped the fire; for Natives' +Hall, which was being used to shelter the houseless, was blown to the +ground. + +About this time--thanks to the currents of excitement spread +everywhere by the European revolutionary movements of 1848--began a +fresh agitation for responsible government, which had already been +granted to the other North American colonies, and which involved a +larger measure of self-government than had been conceded in the +constitution of 1832. The inhabitants became more and more anxious +that appointments within the colony should depend upon popular +approval--or, rather, on the choice of the party commanding a majority +in the Legislature--and not upon the Crown's nomination. The official +view at home on this demand was stated both by the Whig, Earl Grey, +and the Conservative, Sir John Pakington. The former wrote: + +"Until the wealth and population of the colony shall have increased +considerably beyond their present amount, the introduction of what is +called responsible government will by no means prove to its +advantage.... The institutions of Newfoundland have been of late in +various ways modified and altered, and some time must unavoidably +elapse before they can acquire that amount of fixity and adaptation to +the colonial wants of society which seems an indispensable preliminary +to the future extension of popular government." + +Similarly, Sir John Pakington, in a despatch of April 3rd, 1852, +observed: + +"Her Majesty's Government see no reason for differing from the +conclusions at which their predecessors had arrived in the question of +the establishment of responsible government, and which were conveyed +to you by Lord Grey in the despatch already mentioned. I consider, on +the contrary, that the wisdom and justice of these conclusions are +confirmed by the accounts since received from Newfoundland." + +The change came in 1855, a year after the Secretary of State for the +Colonies had informed the Governor that "Her Majesty's Government has +come to the conclusion that they ought not to withhold from +Newfoundland those institutions and that civil administration which, +under the popular name of responsible government, have been adopted in +all Her Majesty's neighbouring possessions in North America, and they +are prepared to concede the immediate application of the system as +soon as certain preliminary conditions have been acceded to on the +part of the Legislature." At the same time the numbers of members in +the Representative Assembly was, at the instance of the Imperial +Government, increased to thirty. + +It was not long before the Empire had an instructive lesson in the +influence with which responsible government arms a colony. A natural +_rapprochement_ between France and England followed the Crimean War, +and a Convention was drafted dealing with the Newfoundland fisheries. +Against the proposed adjustment, involving a surrender by Great +Britain of Newfoundland fishing rights, local feeling was strong and +unanimous. Petition followed petition, and delegation delegation. "The +excitement in the colony over the Convention of 1857 was most intense +and widespread; the British flag was hoisted half-mast; other excited +citizens flew American flags; everywhere there was burning indignation +over this proposal to sell our birthright for a mess of pottage.[40] +The resolute attitude of those interested elicited from Mr H. +Labouchere, then Colonial Secretary, the welcome expression of a great +constitutional principle: + +"The proposals contained in the Convention having been now +unequivocally refused by the colony, they will of course fall to the +ground; and you are authorized to give such assurance as you may think +proper, that the consent of the community of Newfoundland is regarded +by Her Majesty's Government as the essential preliminary to any +modification of their territorial or maritime rights." + +So vital is the appreciation of this principle to an Empire +constituted like our own, that it is worth while to set out the +resolution of the Newfoundland Legislature which killed the +Convention: + +"We deem it our duty most respectfully to protest in the most solemn +way against any attempt to alienate any portion of our fisheries or +our soil to any foreign power without the consent of the local +Legislature. As our fishery and territorial rights constitute the +basis of our commerce and of our social and political existence, as +they are our birthright and the legal inheritance of our children, we +cannot under any circumstances assent to the terms of the Convention; +we therefore earnestly entreat that the Imperial Government will take +no steps to bring this treaty into operation, but will permit the +trifling privileges that remain to us to continue unimpaired." + +In 1858 took place a real advance in the relations between different +parts of the Empire, for in that year the east coast of Newfoundland +(Trinity Bay) was connected with Ireland by a submarine cable. The +messages then exchanged through Newfoundland between the Queen and the +President of the United States mark the most decisive point in what +has been called the shrinkage of the world. Eight years later a second +Atlantic cable was successfully landed at Heart's Content. + +A constitutional crisis arose in 1860, which was followed by serious +political disturbances. The Government, in which Mr Kent was Premier, +introduced a measure to determine the colonial equivalent of imperial +sterling in the payment of officials. The judges forwarded to the +Governor, Sir Alexander Bannerman, a representation against the +proposal; Mr Kent thereupon in the Assembly accused the Governor of +having entered into a conspiracy with the judges and the minority in +the House against the executive. The Governor demanded an explanation +which Mr Kent declined to give, adding that in his judgment he was +not called upon to explain his utterances as a member of the +Legislature to the Governor. Sir Alexander Bannerman immediately +dismissed the Ministry, and invited the Opposition leader, Mr Hoyles, +to form an Administration. The election took place in April, 1861. +Political passions ran high, and the old feud between Romanists and +Protestants was most unhappily revived. At the Protestant Harbour +Grace the election could not be held at all, while at the Catholic +Harbour Main a riot took place in which life was lost. + +The new Assembly was opened in May 1861, and showed a majority in +favour of Mr Hoyles. It soon became clear that the passions of the mob +in St. John's were dangerously excited; Sir Alexander was hooted and +stoned on his return from the Assembly, and a little later an +organized series of attacks was commenced upon the dwellings of +well-known Roman Catholics. The magistrates thereupon called on the +military, under the command of Colonel Grant. The soldiers marched +out, eighty strong, and confronted the mob, which then numbered many +thousands. Encouraged by their commander, the troops submitted with +patient gallantry to insults and even to volleys of stones. Finally, +it is alleged, a pistol was fired at them from the crowd. Then at last +the order was given to fire; several persons were killed and twenty +wounded. Among the latter, by great misfortune, was the Rev. Jeremiah +O'Donnell, who had bravely and patiently tried to calm the mob. + +The whole incident was unfortunate, but it is impossible to accept the +contention that Sir Alexander Bannerman was guilty of an +unconstitutional exercise of the prerogative in dissolving the +Assembly. It will not seriously be maintained that the representative +of the Queen could have maintained relations with a Minister who +publicly insulted him in his public capacity, and then curtly declined +to explain or withdraw his charges. As to the sequel, it is sufficient +to say that the civil authorities would have been grossly wanting in +their duty if they had failed to call out the soldiers, and that the +mob were not fired upon until the extreme limits of endurance had been +reached. That innocent persons should have been involved in the +consequences is matter of great regret; but association with a lawless +mob, even when the motive is as admirable as that of Father O'Donnell, +necessarily admits this risk. + +It cannot be doubted that deep-lying economic causes had much to do +with political discontent. From the first the financial position of +the colony had been unsound. The short prosperity of the winter months +had produced a vicious and widely-spread system of credit. Soon a +majority of the fishermen lived during the winter upon the prospective +earnings of the coming season, and then when it came addressed +themselves without zest to an occupation the fruits of which were +already condemned. In this way a single bad season pauperized hundreds +of hard-working men. Governor Waldegrave in 1797 had been struck by +the failure of the law to provide for the poor, and owing to his +exertions a voluntary system of poor relief was set on foot. By the +time of Governor Gambier, in 1800, these measures had been +discontinued and, indeed, permanence was not to be looked for in a +system which depended upon voluntary support. The difficulty was that +the Crown officers advised Governor Gambier "that the provision of the +Poor Laws cannot be enforced in Newfoundland; and that the Governor +has no authority to raise a sum of money by a rate upon the +inhabitants." + +The evil grew worse rather than better, and by the time of the great +Governor Cochrane, in 1825, it had assumed the form of an inveterate +social disease. Many able-bodied applicants for relief were provided +with work in public employments, and the wholesome warning was added +that those who refused such work would under no circumstances be +entitled to relief. Governor Cochrane did not shrink from indicating +the real cause of the distress. "Those who are upon wages," he wrote, +"receive a sum during the summer months, which, if properly husbanded, +would, together with the produce of their own exertion after the +fishery has ceased, be fully adequate to the support of themselves +and families for the following winter. Yet I am led to believe that a +large portion of this is dissipated before many weeks or days have +elasped after the fishing season has terminated, and in consequence of +such profusion many families are left to want and misery." + +The generality of the system destroyed in time that healthy dread of +pauperism which, as an economic factor, is of the highest national +importance. The receipt of poor relief lost the stigma assigned to it +with rough justice by Anglo-Saxon independence, and in 1863, out of a +total public expenditure of L90,000, the astounding proportion of +L30,000 was expended upon the necessities of the poor. + +Far-seeing observers had long before pointed out that the remedy for +these disorders must be a radical one. Improvidence among the poorer +classes is familiar to economists in more experienced societies than +that of Newfoundland, and may be accepted as a permanent element in +the difficulty. The real hope lay in opening up, on remunerative +lines, industries which would occupy the poor in the lean months. Nor +was Newfoundland without such resources, if the capital necessary for +their development could have been found. A penetrating railway system, +by its indirect effects upon the mining and agricultural interests, +would have done much to solve the problem of the unemployed. The +difficulty was that the state of the public finances was in no +condition to undertake costly schemes of betterment. In a later +chapter we shall see the Government, after exhausting the resources of +loans, looking to a desperate remedy to conquer its powerlessness for +enterprise. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[40] Prowse, p. 473. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MODERN NEWFOUNDLAND + + +In 1869[41] took place a General Election, in which great Imperial +interests were involved. Governor Musgrave, in 1866, had advised +Federal union with the Canadian provinces--then about to federate +among themselves--and the election three years later was fought upon +this issue. The result was a complete rout for the Federal party; a +rout so complete that the question has hardly since reappeared within +the field of practical politics. The causes of this defeat were, in +the first place, economic considerations; secondly, Irish national +feeling and hostility to the union; and thirdly, a certain distrust +and dread of Canada. Judge Prowse, whose intimate knowledge of +Newfoundland entitles his opinion to special respect, thinks that even +in recent years there lingered some rankling memory of the days when +French Canadian raids terrified the colonists in the seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries.[42] However this may be, it is certain that the +outlying portions of the Empire hardly as yet felt the same community +with and loyalty to one another as they did with regard to the home +country. The relation of Newfoundland to the Dominion of Canada +resembles in many ways that of New Zealand to the new Australian +Federal system, and in each group of colonies there is a noticeable +drift towards centralization. Judge Prowse, who was a strong believer +in North American union both from an Imperial and from a Colonial +point of view, has fully indicated the difficulties. The Canadian +protectionist tariff, the greater attractions of the United States +market (inasmuch as the Dominion is a fish producer rather than a fish +consumer), the opposition which wide political changes unavoidably +excite--all these obstacles were formidable for the moment. It is +uncertain even now whether they will be strong enough to prevent, +indefinitely, the realization of the Confederate scheme. It is +possible that such a union would be followed by some disadvantages to +Newfoundland; but, on the other hand, the gain would be very great. +The politics of the colony would be braced by the ampler atmosphere of +the Dominion, and the tendency towards parochialism finally arrested. +The geographical difficulty ceased to exist when the United States +taught us how vast are the areas over which successful political +unions are possible. No one can fairly ask that Newfoundland should +take the step in the teeth of her own material interests; but, +assuming that union with Canada can be reconciled with those +interests, the Imperial issue holds the field. Its importance can +hardly be overstated. So soon as the several communities, which +together form the Empire, realize not merely their ties with the +Mother Country, but also their own organic interconnection, from that +moment the whole Imperial idea receives an immense accession of +strength.[43] But it is now elementary that Newfoundland, and +Newfoundland alone, can take this decision. She is the mistress of her +own destinies. + +It is unfortunate that the Blaine-Bond incident in 1890 should have +excited ill-feeling against Canada in the older colony. In September +of that year a treaty of trade regulating the purchase of bait, etc., +the shipping of crews, and transhipment of cargo (called, from the +delegates employed on each side,[44] the Blaine-Bond Treaty) was +informally negotiated between Newfoundland and the United States, and +a draft of a convention was prepared. In the following December this +draft was modified, but in January 1891, Mr Blaine submitted a +counter-proposal, which the United States were disposed to accept, +though they were not really anxious to effect the arrangement. The +treaty had been submitted to the Colonial Office, and approved by it; +but the ratification of the Imperial Government was refused at the +last moment. Probably the refusal would have caused less irritation in +the colony if it had sprung from Imperial considerations; as a fact, +it was procured by Canadian remonstrances against Newfoundland's +separate action in a matter concerning Canada also, and it was felt in +Newfoundland that the island had been sacrificed to the exigencies of +Canadian party politics. It may be added here that in 1902, another +separate agreement--the Hay-Bond Treaty--similar to the preceding, was +entered into, but was rejected by the United States Senate. +Accordingly the Newfoundland Government secured in 1905 the passing of +the Foreign Fishing Vessels Act which deprived the American fishermen +(more particularly those of Gloucester, Mass.) of the special +privileges hitherto conceded, leaving them the right under the +Convention of 1818. Disputes arose. The question was discussed at the +Imperial Conference in 1907. After temporary alleviation of the +difficulties by a _modus vivendi_, the British and American +Governments came to the conclusion that the best remedy lay in a +submission to the Hague Court of Arbitration: in 1909 the terms of +reference were agreed to, and on September 1910 the award was +given.[45] Newfoundland was thereby placed in a very favourable +position for dealing with the discrimination exercised against fish +exported to America by Newfoundlanders. The points decided were: (1) +The right to make regulations as to the exercise of the liberty to +take fish, under the Treaty of 1818, is inherent to the sovereignty of +Great Britain; (2) The United States has the right to employ +non-Americans in the fisheries, but they are not entitled to benefit +or immunity from the said Treaty; (3) While American fishing vessels +may be required to report at colonial ports when convenient, such +vessels should not be subject to the purely commercial formalities of +report, entry, and clearance at a Custom House, nor to light, harbour, +or other dues not imposed upon Newfoundland fishermen; (4) American +fishing vessels entering certain colonial bays, for shelter, repairs, +wood and water, should not be subject to dues or other demands for +doing so, but they might be required to report to any reasonably +convenient Custom House or official; (5) In the case of bays, +mentioned in the Treaty of 1818, three marine miles are to be measured +from a straight line drawn across the body of water at the place where +it ceases to bear the configuration and characteristics of a bay. At +all other places the three marine miles are to be measured following +the sinuosities of the coast. + +To return to the period now under consideration. It saw a bold attempt +to deal with the Poor-law scandal. Relief to able-bodied persons was +discontinued in 1868. A succession of good fishing seasons, and the +development of the mining industry, lessened the difficulty of the +step. Seven years later came a still more momentous proposal. "The +period appears to have arrived," said Governor Hill, in his opening +speech to the Legislature, "when a question which has for some time +engaged public discussion, viz., the construction of a railway across +the island to St. George's Bay, should receive a practical +solution.... There is a well-founded expectation that the line of +railway would attract to our shores the mail and passenger traffic of +the Atlantic ... and thus would be secured those vast commercial +advantages which our geographical position manifestly entitles us to +command. As a preliminary to this object a proposition will be +submitted to you for a thorough survey, to ascertain the most eligible +line, and with a view to the further inquiry whether the colony does +not possess within itself the means of inducing capitalists to +undertake this great enterprise of progress." + +It is easy to forget, in speaking of Newfoundland until 1875, how very +little was known of the interior. The Newfoundland with which we are +concerned consisted in fact of a few towns on the coast, with a great +and imperfectly explored interior behind them. Even down to the +beginning of the twentieth century very little was known of much of +the island. It is difficult to assign limits to the developments which +are probable when a thorough system of internal communication shall +have given free play to each latent industry. + +The first proposal was that a railway should be constructed from St. +John's to St. George's Bay, but objections were made from England on +the ground that the line would end on the French shore. Then came the +proposal that it should run from St. John's to Hall's Bay, with +branches to Brigus and Harbour Grace, covering in all a distance of +about 340 miles. A joint committee of both Houses prepared a report, +which became the basis of the Bill (1880). One sentence is worth +quoting, because it states very clearly the difficulties which have +played so large a part in the history of Newfoundland: + +"The question of the future of our growing population has for some +time enjoyed the earnest attention of all thoughtful men in this +country, and has been the subject of serious solicitude. The fisheries +being our main resource, and to a large extent the only dependence of +the people, those periodic partial failures which are incident to such +pursuits continue to be attended with recurring visitations of +pauperism, and there seems no remedy to be found for this condition of +things but that which may lie in varied and extensive pursuits.... Our +fisheries have no doubt increased, but not in a measure corresponding +to our measure of population; and even though they were capable of +being expanded, that object would be largely neutralized by the +decline in price which follows from a large catch, as no increase of +markets can be found to give remunerative returns for an augmented +supply." + +The Act was passed, which empowered the raising of a loan of +L1,000,000 for the purpose of constructing the proposed railway. By +November, 1884, the line was completed as far as Harbour Grace; by +1888 a further instalment of some twenty-seven miles was ready between +Whitbourne and Placentia; soon afterwards it was decided to recommence +building the line northwards from St. John's to Hall's Bay, which has +been discontinued through the failure of the contractors, and to carry +out the scheme the Reid Contract was entered into. + +We are now reaching a period when the leading parts are played by +persons still or recently living, and the story must therefore be +continued with the reserve proper to one who is not himself an +inhabitant of Newfoundland. Particularly is this true of the much +discussed Reid Contract, the circumstances of which are reserved, from +their great importance, for a separate chapter.[46] + +It is unfortunate that the ensuing stage of this short narrative +should be marred by so much trouble, but, in fact, the last ten years +of the nineteenth century have been among the most disastrous in the +history of the island. In 1892 came the most destructive of all the +fires with which St. John's has been afflicted. The fire broke out in +a stable at five o'clock on the afternoon of Friday, July 8th, and +lasted until nine o'clock on Saturday morning. It came at the end of a +month's draught, was helped by a powerful wind, and found the town +with a depleted water supply. Arising in an eastern suburb, the flames +were carried right into the business centre of the town, and finally +reached the rich warehouses of Water Street. Eye witnesses describe +the heat as so intense that brick and stone offered little more +resistance than wood. A mile of wharfage was destroyed, and Water +Street completely gutted. "Over a vast area," wrote one who noted the +effects, "nothing is now to be seen but tottering walls and chimneys." +It was computed that 10,000 persons were left homeless, and that the +total damage exceeded 20,000,000 dollars, of which less than 5,000,000 +dollars were covered by insurance. The Savings Bank, the Hospital, the +Masonic Hall, and the Anglican Cathedral, alike perished. To complete +the misery of the sufferers, it soon became known that the food supply +remaining was only sufficient for ten days. As in 1846, the sympathy +of Canada was promptly and warmly shown. The day after the fire 4,000 +dollars' worth of provisions were sent over, and military tents +sufficient to shelter 1,200 people. In England, a Mansion House fund +was immediately opened by the Lord Mayor of London, and its final +amount fell little short of L20,000. Sir Terence O'Brien, the +Governor, and Lady O'Brien, happened to be in England at the time, and +they threw themselves warmly into the cause of the colony. + +In 1894, a misfortune of a different kind happened. On Monday, +December 10th, the Commercial Bank, the Union Bank, and the Savings +Bank, which had all been long established, were compelled to suspend +payment. A widespread panic followed, and all business was paralysed. +Workmen were dismissed wholesale, no money being available for the +payment of their wages. To make the crisis graver still, the Union +Bank was to have provided the interest on the Public Debt, which was +payable in London on January 1st. The population feared that the crash +would bring about riots and other dread occurrences. In aggravation of +the risk the rumour spread that Newfoundland was about to be +incorporated into the Dominion of Canada as a mere province. The +Government telegraphed to the authorities in London for an immediate +loan of L200,000, and requested that a warship should be despatched in +view of imminent disturbances. The causes which led immediately to the +failure were well stated in a Dalziel telegram to _The Times_:[47] + +"The immediate cause of the financial crisis which has overwhelmed +Newfoundland was the death of Mr Hall, a partner in the firm of Messrs +Prowse, Hall & Morris, the London agents of the firms exporting fish +to European markets. On his death the firm declined to meet further +exchanges until an investigation of their affairs had been made. Their +bills were protested, and the banks made demands on the Commercial +Bank of St. John's, which was the drawer of the bills, and which, +being unable to meet the demands made upon it, fell back upon its +mercantile customers. These could not respond, and the bank had to +suspend operations. The customers were compelled to make assignments, +and nearly every business house in the colony was crippled, so +interwoven are the affairs of one establishment with those of another. + +"The situation was only possible under the peculiar business customs +of the colony. The fishing industry here is pursued under a system of +advances for vessels and equipments made by the merchants to the +fishermen, who gave the catch at the end of the season in exchange. +The merchants receive large advances from the only two banks doing +business here, the Union Bank of Newfoundland and the Commercial Bank. +By backing each other's bills the banks are enabled to carry on +operations, and then at the close of the year, when the produce of the +fisheries is realized, they are able to settle their overdrafts. + +"The disaster happened at a most unfortunate time. If it had been +postponed for another month the merchants would have realized on most +of the fish, and the assets would have been far more valuable. At +present, 2,000,000 dollars' worth of fishery products are stored in +St. John's awaiting the means of shipment. Until financial aid from +the outside world is obtained, it is impossible to place the fish on +the market." + +At this time the financial position of the colony was thoroughly +unsound. Its population numbered roughly 200,000 persons, and its +Public Debt amounted to 14,000,000 dollars, or nearly three million +pounds sterling. The Ministry of the day resigned, after an +unsuccessful attempt to form a coalition Government, and its +successors applied for Imperial help, an application which logically +involved the surrender of the Constitution. In fact, the unassisted +credit of the colony seemed hopeless, for in a year or two the railway +reckonings had to be met. The Government had issued bonds whereof +yearly interest was to become payable on completion, amounting to +almost a third of the total revenue of the colony.[48] + +Such temporary measures as the nature of the crisis admitted were +taken locally. The Legislature passed two Bills guaranteeing a +portion of the note issue of both the Union Bank and the Commercial +Bank; while a loan of 400,000 dollars was procured from the Bank of +Montreal, and additional loans from the Bank of Nova Scotia and the +Royal Bank of Canada: thus "the financial sceptre passed to +Canada."[49] At the same time the manager and directors of the +Commercial Bank were arrested on a charge of having presented a +fraudulent balance sheet. Reuter's correspondent at St. John's noted +that in this time of trouble the idea of union with Canada gained +ground rapidly. How hopeless the position seemed to calm observers on +the spot may be gathered from the following vivid extracts from a +letter by _The Times_ correspondent at St. John's:[50] + +"Twelve large firms controlled the whole export trade of the +colony--fish oils and fish products, valued at about 7,000,000 +dollars. Of these twelve only two remain ... and these are sorely +stricken. These firms occupied the whole waterside premises of St. +John's, gave employment to hundreds of storekeepers, coopers, +stevedores, and others, beside some thousands of unskilled labourers +occupied in the handling of the fish. All these men are now without a +day's work, or any means of obtaining it. The isolation of the colony, +away out in the Atlantic with no neighbour, is its greatest curse. +People unemployed cannot emigrate, but must swell an army of +industrials depending on the Government for relief. The city is a +veritable aggregation of unemployed; it is a city to let. Every +business, factory, wharf, store, or shop employing labour has either +suspended business or has curtailed the number of its employees to the +lowest possible limit. It is not unreasonable to estimate the number +unemployed here to-day at 6,000, every one of whom must be without +work until spring opens." + +It is not surprising to find that in this difficulty the minds of the +colonists turned towards the Imperial Exchequer. But the distinction +is vital between an Imperial grant in relief of a visitation of nature +and a grant in relief of financial disasters which may be the result +of improvidence or extravagance. The Imperial Exchequer is drawn from +complex sources, and cannot be diverted to irregular purposes without +injustice to large numbers of poor people. These facts were not +unnaturally overlooked in Newfoundland, for in trouble the sense of +proportion is apt to disappear. Thus on March 2nd, 1895, Sir W. +Whiteway, the Newfoundland Premier, in a letter to _The Times_, said: + +"We have approached Her Majesty's Government, and solicited a mere +guarantee of interest to the amount of a few thousand pounds per annum +for a limited period, in order to enable the colony to float its loans +and tide it over the present temporary difficulties. Up to date the +people of this old, loyal colony have received no response. They have +been struggling against difficulties in the past, and if they still +have to trust to their own inherent pluck, and to the resources of the +country, they must only passively submit, although they may the more +bitterly feel the heartless treatment of the Imperial Government +towards them." + +The touch of bitterness in Sir William Whiteway's letter was, perhaps, +unreasonable. Mr Goodridge was Premier at the time of the crash, and +his Government at once appealed for help to England, on the ground +that if it were not forthcoming the colony would be unable to meet its +obligations. A proposal was added that a Royal Commission should be +appointed to inquire into the whole political and commercial position +of the colony. Mr Goodridge was unable to keep his place, and his +Government was followed by that of Mr Greene. The new Government at +once inquired whether, if the Newfoundland Legislature acquiesced in +the appointment of a Commission, financial help would be immediately +forthcoming. They desired information also as to the scope of the +Commission and the terms on which assistance would be given. To this +the answer was inevitable, that all these points must depend upon the +findings of the Commission. In fact, the Colonial Government wished +for an unconditional loan and an assurrance that the Constitution of +the island would not be interfered with. Mr Greene, in turn, proved +unable to hold his ground, and was succeeded by Sir William Whiteway. +The latter substituted for the earlier proposals a request that the +Newfoundland bonds should be guaranteed by the Imperial Government; +the suggested Commission being ignored. This was the request referred +to in Sir William's letter. Now it is very clear that although the +amount involved was relatively small, a very important principle was +raised. Responsible government has its privileges and its obligations, +the latter of which flow logically from the former. The Imperial +Government charges itself with responsibility for the finances of a +Crown colony because it directs the policy and determines the +establishment on which the finances so largely depend. It is not +reasonable to ask that the British taxpayer should assume +responsibility for liabilities incurred by a colony with responsible +government. The _toga virilis_ has responsibilities. The case might, +perhaps, be different if there were no danger that the concession of +help might be drawn into a precedent. But it must never be forgotten +that the aggregate public debts of the self-governing colonies at +about that time exceeded L300,000,000. + +The crisis of 1895 has been dealt with at some little length, because +it would be impossible otherwise to understand the occasion of the +great Reid Contract, which will form the subject of the next chapter. +It so happens that the last ten years of the nineteenth century have +been more momentous than any equal period in the history of the +colony. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[41] The census of this year showed that the population had increased +to 146,536. + +[42] _Op. cit._, p. 495. + +[43] This question of union was frequently raised--notably in 1906, +and during the Great War in 1916 and 1917 (see end of chap. ix.). + +[44] Sir Robert Bond, the ex-Premier of Newfoundland; Mr J.G. Blaine, +the American Secretary of State. + +[45] House of Commons Papers, Miscellaneous, No. 3, 1910, Cd. 5396. + +[46] See chap. ix. + +[47] December 14th, 1894. + +[48] See General Dashwood's letter to _The Times_, December 18th, +1894. + +[49] Rogers, p. 189. + +[50] January 17th, 1895. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE REID CONTRACT--GENERAL PROGRESS AND RECENT HISTORY + + +The next few years may be dismissed briefly, for they were years of +unrelieved melancholy, from the point of view of the public financial +policy and the political development of the colony. Nor did the +disease admit of a readily applicable remedy. The experience of each +decade had shown more and more clearly that the colony had nothing in +reserve--no variety of pursuits to support the general balance of +prosperity by alternations of success. Potentially its resources were +almost incalculably great, but their development was impossible +without capital or credit. The colony had neither. Under these +circumstances took place the General Election of October, 1897. The +assets of the colony were not before the electorate, and there was no +reason to suppose that financial proposals of an extraordinary kind +were in contemplation. The result of the election placed Sir James +Winter in power. In six months the famous "Reid Contract" had been +entered into--a contract which must be described at some length in +these pages, partly because it throws a vivid light upon the +constitutional relations between the Mother Country and a +self-governing colony, partly because it appears to be incomparably +the most important event in the recent history of Newfoundland. + +On February 22nd, 1898, Mr Chamberlain received a telegram from the +Governor, Sir Herbert Murray, advising him that a novel resolution had +been submitted to the Houses of Legislature by his responsible +advisers. A fuller telegram six days later, and a letter intervening, +explained the proposals in detail. To put the matter as shortly as +possible, the Government advised the sale to a well-known Canadian +contractor, Mr R.G. Reid, of certain valuable colonial assets. In the +first place, Mr Reid was to purchase all lines of railway from the +Government for 1,000,000 dollars; this amount was the price of the +ultimate reversion, the contractor undertaking to operate the lines +for fifty years on agreed terms, and to re-ballast them. If he failed +in this operation his reversionary rights became forfeit. For carrying +the Government mails he was to receive an annual subsidy of 42,000 +dollars. Minute covenants by the contractor were inserted in the draft +contract, "in consideration whereof," it continued, "the Government +hereby covenant and agree to and with the contractor, to grant to him +in fee simple ... 5,000 acres of land for each one mile of main line +or branch railway throughout the entire length of the lines to be +operated: the expression 'in fee simple' to include with the land all +mines, ores, precious metals, minerals, stones, and mineral oils of +every kind." Besides these general concessions a particular grant of +mineral land was made. The areas of land near Grand Lake, in which +coal had been discovered, were transferred to Mr Reid, on condition +that he should so work the coal mines as to produce not less than +50,000 tons of coal per annum. + +The contract then passed on to deal with the service of mail steamers. +Under this head eight steamers for various services were to be +provided by the contractor, and by him manned and equipped. In +consideration therefor the Government undertook to pay subsidies upon +an agreed scale. The docks were next disposed of. Under this head the +Government agreed to sell to the contractor the St. John's Dry Dock +for 325,000 dollars. The next available asset was the telegraph +service. Here the agreement provided that the contractor should assume +responsibility for all telegraph lines until 1904, in return for an +annual subsidy of 10,000 dollars, and after 1904, until the period of +fifty years was completed, should maintain them free of any charge to +the colony by way of subsidy or otherwise. + +By a later section of the draft contract it was provided that the +contractor should not assign or sublet the contract, or any part or +portion thereof, to any person or corporation whomsoever without the +consent of the Government. The language of this prohibition is +curiously general, and is indeed sufficient in its terms to prohibit +assignments _mortis causa_, as well as those _inter vivos_. Such a +result can hardly have been contemplated. + +By the last section it was recorded that "the Government undertake to +enact all such legislation as may be necessary to give full effect to +the contract and the several clauses and provisions thereof, according +to the spirit and intent thereof, and also such as may be necessary to +facilitate and enforce the collection and payment of fares and rates, +the preservation of order and discipline in the trains and stations, +and generally to give to the contractor all such powers, rights, and +privileges as are usually conferred upon or granted to railways and +railway companies for the purposes of their business." + +Such, in barest outline, was the proposal of which Mr Chamberlain was +informed by Governor Murray. It certainly involved a sacrifice +incalculably grave of the colony's prospects, but those who brought it +forward no doubt reflected on the truism that he who has expectations, +but neither assets nor credit, must reinforce the latter by drawing in +some degree upon the former. In fact, it seems to have been doubtful +whether, at the time, the colony could by any device meet its +obligations as they became due. The force of these observations must +be frankly conceded; but it may still be doubted whether a less +desperate remedy was not within the grasp of resourceful +statesmanship. In his first telegram, sent on March 2nd, 1898, Mr +Chamberlain called attention to the more apparent objections: + +"The future of the colony will be placed entirely in the hands of the +contractor by the railway contract, which appears highly improvident. +As there seems to be no penalty provided for failure to operate the +railways, the contract is essentially the sale of a million and a +quarter acres for a million dollars." + +From the legal point of view the contract was a very singular one. The +Government of Newfoundland, in fact, assumed to bind its successors by +a partial abdication of sovereign power. Yet the same capacity which +enabled the then Government to bind itself would equally and evidently +inhere in its successors to revoke the obligation. Those who are +struck by the conscientious obligation which the then Government could +no doubt bequeath, may ask themselves how long a democratically +governed country would tolerate corruption or ineptitude in the public +service on the ground that the monopolist worker of them had inherited +a franchise from an ancestor who had known how to exploit the public +necessities. The virtual expropriation of the Irish landlords, which +was in progress in the United Kingdom, may have been right or it may +have been wrong; it is at least a far more startling interference with +vested interest than would be the resumption by a State of control +over heedlessly aliened public services. + +Whatever be the force of these observations, the disadvantages of the +Newfoundland Government's specific proposals were patent enough. Nor +were they unperceived in the colony, and in particular by the enemies +of the Ministry. The islanders stopped fishing and took to petitions. +These were numerous and lengthy, and it is only proposed to consider +here the petition which was sent by dissentient members of the House +of Assembly, containing a formidable indictment of the proposed +agreement. The objections brought forward may be briefly summarized: + +1. The electors were never consulted. + +2. The Bill was an absolute conveyance in fee simple of all the +railways, the docks, telegraph lines, mineral, timber, and +agricultural lands of the colony, and virtually disposed of all the +assets, representing a funded debt of 17,000,000 dollars, for +L280,000. + +3. While the Bill conveyed large and valuable mineral, agricultural, +and timber areas, amounting, with former concessions, to four million +acres, it made no provision for the development of these lands. + +4. The conveyance embraced the whole Government telegraph system of +the colony. + +5. It included a monopoly for the next thirty years of the coastal +carrying trade. + +6. It included the sale of the dry dock, and the granting, without +consideration, of valuable waterside property belonging to the +Municipal Council of St. John's. + +On March 23rd Mr Chamberlain answered the representation of Governor +Murray, and the profuse petitions which the latter had forwarded. Both +from the general constitutional significance of the reply, and its +particular importance in the history of Newfoundland, it is convenient +to reproduce the letter in full: + + Mr Chamberlain to Governor Sir H.H. Murray. + + Downing Street, + + March 23rd, 1898. + + SIR,--In my telegram of the 2nd instant I informed + you that if your Ministers, after fully considering the + objections urged to the proposed contract with Mr R.G. Reid + for the sale and operation of the Government railways and + other purposes, still pressed for your signature to that + instrument, you would not be constitutionally justified in + refusing to follow their advice, as the responsibility for the + measure rested entirely with them. + + 2. Whatever views I may hold as to the propriety of the + contract, it is essentially a question of local finance, and + as Her Majesty's Government have no responsibility for the + finance of self-governing colonies, it would be improper for + them to interfere in such a case unless Imperial interests + were directly involved. On these constitutional grounds I was + unable to advise you to withhold your assent to the Bill + confirming the contract. + + 3. I have now received your despatches as noted in the margin, + giving full information as to the terms of the contract, and + the grounds upon which your Government have supported it, as + well as the reasons for which it was opposed by the Leader and + some members of the Opposition. + + 4. I do not propose to enter upon a discussion of the details + of the contract, or of the various arguments for and against + it, but I cannot refrain from expressing my views as to the + serious consequences which may result from this extraordinary + measure. + + 5. Under this contract, and the earlier one of 1893, for the + construction of the railway, practically all the Crown lands + of any value become, with full rights to all minerals, the + freehold property of a single individual: the whole of the + railways are transferred to him, the telegraphs, the postal + service, and the local sea communications, as well as the + property in the dock at St. John's. Such an abdication by a + Government of some of its most important functions is without + parallel. + + 6. The colony is divested for ever of any control over or + power of influencing its own development, and of any direct + interest in or direct benefit from that development. It will + not even have the guarantee for efficiency and improvement + afforded by competition, which would tend to minimize the + danger of leaving such services in the hands of private + individuals. + + 7. Of the energy, capacity, and character of Mr Reid, in whose + hands the future of the colony is thus placed, both yourself + and your predecessor have always spoken in the highest terms, + and his interests in the colony are already so enormous that + he has every motive to work for and to stimulate its + development; but he is already, I believe, advanced in years, + and though the contract requires that he shall not assign or + sublet it to any person or corporation without the consent of + the Government, the risk of its passing into the hands of + people less capable and possessing less interest in the + development of the colony is by no means remote. + + 8. All this has been fully pointed out to your Ministers and + the Legislature, and I can only conclude that they have + satisfied themselves that the danger and evils resulting from + the corruption which, according to the statement of the + Receiver-General, has attended the administration of these + services by the Government, are more serious than any evils + that can result from those services being transferred + unreservedly to the hands of a private individual or + corporation; and that, in fact, they consider that it is + beyond the means and capacity of the colony to provide for the + honest and efficient maintenance of these services, and that + they must, therefore, be got rid of at whatever cost. + + 9. That they have acted thus in what they believe to be the + best interests of the colony I have no reason to doubt; but, + whether or not it is the case, as they allege, that the + intolerable burden of the Public Debt, and the position in + which the colony was left by the contract of 1893, rendered + this sacrifice inevitable, the fact that the colony, after + more than forty years of self-government, should have to + resort to such a step is greatly to be regretted. + + 10. I have to request that in communicating this despatch to + your Ministers you will inform them that it is my wish that it + may be published in the _Gazette_. + + I have, etc., + J. CHAMBERLAIN. + +Some of the inferences set forth in the Colonial Secretary's lucid +letter were questioned by the Newfoundland Government, but +substantially his conclusions were not assailed. The decision of the +Imperial Government by no means stayed the voice of local agitation, +and the stream of petitions continued to grow. In a further letter to +Governor Murray, dated December 5th, 1898, Mr Chamberlain laid down +the great constitutional doctrine which is the Magna Charta of Greater +Britain. Every student of colonial politics should be familiar with +these passages: + +"The right to complete and unfettered control over financial policy +and arrangements is essential to self-government, and has been +invariably acknowledged and respected by Her Majesty's Government, and +jealously guarded by the colonies. The Colonial Government and +Legislature are solely responsible for the management of its finances +to the people of the colony, and unless Imperial interests of grave +importance were imperilled, the intervention of Her Majesty's +Government in such matters would be an unwarrantable intrusion and a +breach of the charter of the colony. + +"It is nowhere alleged that the interests of any other part of the +Empire are involved, or that the Act is any way repugnant to Imperial +legislation. It is asserted, indeed, that the contract disposes of +assets of the colony over which its creditors in this country have an +equitable, if not a legal claim; but, apart from the fact that the +assets in question are mainly potential, and that the security of the +colonial debt is its general revenue and not any particular property +or assets, I cannot admit that the creditors of the colony have any +right to claim the interference of Her Majesty's Government in this +matter. It is on the faith of the Colonial Government and Legislature +that they have advanced their money, and it is to them that they must +appeal if they consider themselves damnified. + +"No doubt, if it was seriously alleged that the Act involved a breach +of faith or a confiscation of the rights of absent persons, Her +Majesty's Government would have to consider it carefully, and consider +whether the discredit which such action on the part of a colony would +entail on the rest of the Empire rendered it necessary for them to +intervene. But no such charge is made, and if Her Majesty's Government +were to intervene whenever the domestic legislation of a colony was +alleged to affect the rights of residents, the right of +self-government would be restricted to very narrow limits.... + +"The fact that the constituencies were not consulted on a measure of +such importance might have furnished a reason for its rejection by the +Upper Chamber, but would scarcely justify the Secretary of State in +advising its disallowance even if it were admitted as a general +principle of constitutional government in Newfoundland that the +Legislature has no right to entertain any measure of first importance +without an immediate mandate from the electors." + +The passing of the particular Bill by no means brought the Reid +controversy to an end. In fact, the General Election in Newfoundland, +of which the result was announced in November 1900, was fought +entirely upon this absorbing question. The issue arose in the +following way. The contract contained a clause providing that Mr Reid +should not assign his rights over the railway without the consent of +the Government. Mr Reid applied to the Government of Sir James Winter +for such consent, but when that Government was defeated in February +1900, no answer had been received. Mr Reid wished to turn all his +holdings in the colony over to a corporation capitalized at 25,000,000 +dollars, he and his three sons forming the company. On the properties +included he proposed to raise 5,000,000 dollars by debenture bonds, +this sum to be expended in development.[51] + +A Liberal Ministry under Mr Bond, who had consistently opposed the +Reid arrangements, displaced Sir James Winter. Finding himself unable +to hold his own in the Assembly, Mr Bond formed a coalition with Mr +Morris, the leader of a section of Liberals who had not associated +themselves with the party opposition to the contract. The terms of +accommodation were simple: "The contract was to be treated as a _fait +accompli_, but no voluntary concessions were to be made to Mr Reid +except for a consideration." Consistently with this view, Mr Reid was +informed by the Government that the permission he requested would be +given upon the following terms: + +(1) He should agree to resign his proprietary rights in the railway. + +(2) He should restore the telegraphs to the ownership of the +Government. + +(3) He should consent to various modifications of his land grants in +the interest of squatters able to establish their _de facto_ +possession. + +To these terms the contractor was not prepared to accede. It is +difficult not to feel sympathy with his refusal. I had the advantage +of hearing the contention on this point of a well-known Newfoundland +Liberal, who brought forward intelligible, but not, I think, +convincing arguments. The clause against assignment without the +consent of Government ought surely to be qualified by the implied +condition that such consent must not be unreasonably withheld. In the +private law of England equity has long since grafted this implication +upon prohibitions against assignment. If, however, the Government had +been content with a blunt _non possumus_, a case could no doubt have +been made out for insisting upon their pound of flesh. They chose, +however, to do the one thing which was neither dignified nor +defensible: they offered to assent to an assignment on condition that +Mr Reid surrendered his most valuable privileges. It is no answer to +say, as many Newfoundland Liberals did say: We opposed the contract +from the start, and it is therefore impossible for us to assent to any +extension of the contractor's privileges. In fact, such an argument +seems to betray an inability to understand the ground principle on +which party government depends. That principle, of course, is the +loyal acceptance by each party on entering office of the completed +legislation of its predecessors. To borrow a metaphor from the Roman +lawyers, the _hereditas_ may be _damnosa_, but the party succeeds +thereto as a _haeres necessarius_. Any other rule would substitute +anarchy for order, and an endless process of reversing the past for a +salutary attention to the present. + +It must, on the other hand, be admitted that Mr Reid's conduct was not +very well chosen to reassure his critics. He threw himself heart and +soul into the General Election which became imminent, and displayed +little judiciousness in his selection of nominees to fight seats in +his interests. It is hard to suppose that independent men were not +discoverable to lay stress on the immediate relief to the colony which +the contract secured, and the inexorable necessity of which it might +plausibly be represented to be the outcome. Mr Morine was Mr Reid's +solicitor. He was a prominent Conservative and Minister of Finance, +and his influence in the Assembly (where his connection with Mr Reid +was apparently unknown) had been exerted in favour of the contract. +When challenged on the point, Mr Morine asserted that he advised Mr +Reid only on private matters, in which his interests would not come +into conflict with those of the colony. Compelled to resign, however, +by Governor Murray on account of the apparently incompatible duality +of his position, he was reinstated (April, 1899) by Governor M'Callum, +on an undertaking that his connection with Mr Reid should be suspended +during office. Mr Morine became leader of the Conservative party on +the retirement of Sir James Winter, reassuming at the same time his +business relations with Mr Reid. In concert with the latter he began a +political campaign in opposition to the Liberal party. His partner, Mr +Gibbs, fought another seat in the same interest. _The Times_ +correspondent above referred to gives an amusing account of other +candidates: + +"One of Mr Reid's sons has been accompanying him through his +constituency, and is mooted as a candidate. Two captains of Reid's bay +steamers are running for other seats. The clothier who supplies the +uniforms for Reid's officials is another, and a shipmaster, who until +recently was ship's husband for the Reid steamers, is another. His +successor, who is a member of the Upper House, has issued a letter +warmly endorsing Mr Morine's policy, and it is now said that one of +Reid's surveying staff will be nominated for another constituency." + +It may easily be imagined that to the ordinary voter the Conservative +_personnel_ proved somewhat disquieting. Success at the polls would +have enabled Mr Reid to say, with Louis XIV.--"_L'Etat, c'est moi._" +Amid extraordinary excitement the election was fought in the autumn of +1900 on the sole issue of the Reid contract, and resulted in a +sweeping victory for the Liberal party, supporting Mr Bond in his +policy as to Mr Reid's monopolies. + +The Reid Contract has been dealt with at this length at a sacrifice of +proportion which the writer believes to be apparent rather than real. +Newfoundland is newly emerged from infancy. The story of its childhood +is relatively uneventful, but the political experiments of its +adolescence must be of absorbing interest to all students of politics. + +In 1901 an Act was passed giving sanction to a new agreement with Mr +Reid in regard to the railways, and incorporating the Reid +Newfoundland Company. Under the agreement the sum of one million +dollars was to be paid to him in consideration of the surrender by him +of the right to own the railway at the end of 1938; and 850,000 +dollars instead of 21/2 million acres of land to which he had become +entitled as a bonus for undertaking to operate the railway until 1938. +He still had, however, claims in respect of certain rolling-stock and +equipment that had been provided under earlier contracts; and also +claims arising through the surrender of the telegraphs. All these were +submitted to arbitration, resulting in awards to Mr Reid of 894,000 +dollars and 11/2 million dollars respectively. However, under the new +arrangement, Mr Reid ceased to be the virtual owner of the railway +system; and became merely a contractor for its operation. The Reid +Newfoundland Company, by agreement with Mr Reid, and with a capital of +25 million dollars, came into possession of over 21/2 million acres of +land, with timber, mineral, and other rights thereon, and took over +all existing contracts for working the railway, and mail and steamboat +services of the colony, including St. John's Dry Dock and the St. +John's tramways, as well as powers for electric lighting in the +capital. The new Company commenced operations on September 1st, 1901. + +With the beginning of the twentieth century was inaugurated an epoch +of political as well as economic progress in the history of the +island. The numerous and widespread activities of the new enterprise +gave a great impetus to the colony: it ensured the efficient working +of the railway, and gave employment at a good wage to an army of +working men in the various branches, and also in connection with the +flotilla of steamers that were run. Other spheres of activity were +gradually opened up, _e.g._ the establishment of a sawmill to furnish +the timber necessary for the various needs of the scheme, the opening +of a granite quarry to supply material for bridge building and paving +the streets of the capital, the development of a slate area and oil +boring, coal mining, the construction of a hotel in St. John's, etc. +The expansion of the undertaking increased from year to year, and +included such projects as the establishment of flour mills, pulp and +paper mills, etc. Next to the Government itself, the Reid Company +became the largest paymaster in the island.[52] + +Other factors contributing to the material advancement of the country +were the development of the iron mines at Belle Island, and the +production of pulp and paper by the "Anglo-Newfoundland Development +Company," the initiators and controllers of which were Messrs +Harmsworth, the well-known newspaper proprietors. This company was +followed soon afterwards by the Albert Reed Company of London. + +A few of the main events in the recent history of the colony may now +be referred to; these, taking us down to the Great War, will suitably +conclude the present chapter. First may be mentioned a curious +development in the political arena. In 1902 the Ministerial candidates +suffered a complete defeat in a by-election; and this result was +attributed to two causes--in the first place, deficient fishing +returns, and secondly, popular dissatisfaction at the monetary gains +secured by Mr Reid. The contest of 1904 was further complicated by the +formation of a number of factions in the ranks of the Opposition. The +latter eventually joined their forces under five leaders, and, +including all elements hostile to the party in power, took the field +against the Bond-Morris Government. But the sympathies of the people +were alienated from such an unusual combination, composed as it was of +antithetical constituents, and when it was in addition rumoured that +their aim was to effect a union with Canada, they suffered a severe +reverse at the elections. Only Mr Morine was returned for his +constituency; and he had no more than five followers in the Assembly. +In these circumstances it was thought that Sir Robert Bond's +administration was ensured a long term of office. But in July 1907 Sir +Edward Morris, then Minister of Justice, resigned through a +disagreement with the Premier on a question of the amount of wages to +be paid to the employees in the Public Works. The Opposition under Mr +Morison (succeeding Mr Morine, who had shortly before left +Newfoundland for Canada) co-operated with leading supporters of Sir +Edward Morris and invited him to become the leader of a united party. +He accepted the offer, and issued a manifesto in March 1908, +indicating his policy. The number of his adherents increased, as a +result of his efforts in the Assembly. In the following November the +quadrennial general election took place, which was vigorously--indeed +bitterly--contested; and the result was a tie, eighteen supporters +having been returned for Sir Robert Bond, and eighteen for the +Opposition--a unique occurrence apparently in the history of +self-governing colonies. The success of Sir Edward Morris was regarded +as remarkable, in view of several disadvantages from which he suffered +in the eyes of large sections of the population, _e.g._ his being a +Roman Catholic (every Premier during the preceding half century had +been a Protestant), his alleged sympathy with Mr Reid, and his alleged +support of union with Canada. The Governor, Sir William MacGregor, +having been requested by Sir Robert Bond to summon the Legislature, +was then required by him, on the very eve of the session, to dissolve +it, without giving it an opportunity to meet. The Governor refusing to +do this, Sir Robert Bond, conformably to usage, resigned along with +his cabinet. Sir Edward Morris was accordingly called upon to form a +ministry; but at the meeting of the Assembly the attempt to elect a +Speaker failed, owing to the opposition of the Bond party. The +Governor next endeavoured to obtain a coalition Ministry, but failed, +and a dissolution was granted (April, 1909). At the election in May +the Morris administration was returned with a substantial +majority--the new ministry for the first time in the history of the +island consisting entirely of natural-born Newfoundlanders. The course +adopted by the Governor, who had been charged by followers of Sir +Robert Bond with partisanship and unconstitutional conduct, was thus +vindicated by the election, and also approved by the Imperial +authorities. In a despatch from the Colonial Office, November 14th, +Lord Crewe observed: + +"... It will be learned from my previous despatches and telegrams that +your action throughout the difficult political situation, which was +created in the colony by the indecisive result of the last general +election, has met with my approval, but I desire to place publicly on +record my high appreciation of the manner in which you have handled a +situation practically unprecedented in the history of responsible +Government in the Dominions. I may add that I consider your decision +to grant a dissolution to Sir Edward Morris--which has, I observe, +been adversely criticized in a section of the Newfoundland press--to +have been fully in accordance with the principles of responsible +Government." + +In 1913 the growing prosperity of the fish trade was still further +increased by the passing of the new United States tariff law, which +admitted fish to the United States free of duty. Further, the opening +of the Panama Canal made possible the establishment of new markets. + +Now we come to the next momentous event in the history of modern +Newfoundland, as it is in that of the modern world generally--namely, +the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914. The colony, like all the +other British dominions and possessions, was fully alive to the +justice of the British cause, and, like the others, was resolved as a +faithful and dutiful daughter to contribute to the military, naval, +and material resources of the Mother Country. This manifestation of +colonial association and unity was a remarkable feature throughout the +war, and will ever be memorable as a token of the undying bonds that +unite the scattered constituents of the British Empire, and of the +common feelings and ideals that inspire the various sections of the +British family. Despite doubt and solicitude as to the effect on +trade, especially on the fish markets, on which Newfoundland is so +much dependent, the colony devoted itself wholeheartedly to the +prosecution of the war. + +In September 1914 a special war session of the Legislature was held, +and several measures were passed, making provision for the raising of +a volunteer force of 1,000 men, for increasing the number of Naval +Reserve from 600 to 1,000 men, and for raising a loan (which was +subsequently furnished by the Imperial Government) for equipping and +maintaining the projected contingents. It may be pointed out here that +about the end of the nineteenth century the colony, desiring to +participate in the obligations--and indeed privileges--of Imperial +defence, took steps to establish a Royal Naval Reserve. From 1900 a +number of men volunteered as reservists, and entered for six months' +training on one of the vessels of the North American and West Indian +squadron. In 1902 a training ship, H.M.S. _Calypso_, was stationed in +St. John's harbour, where the 600 men--the number proposed--might +duly complete their training. Before the war the Naval Reserve +establishment amounted to 580. There were besides local Boys' +Brigades, but no military force whatever. + +In 1915 considerable efforts were made. By the end of the year a +military contingent of 2,000 men was raised, and the Naval Reserve was +enlarged to 1,200. In November a plebiscite was taken in regard to the +question of total prohibition, and a majority decided in its favour; +so that from January 1st, 1917, the manufacture, importation, and sale +of intoxicating liquors were prohibited. + +In 1916 a battalion of the Newfoundland regiment took part in a good +deal of severe fighting in France; and it was maintained to full +strength by regular drafts from home. + +In the meantime an Act was passed imposing restrictions on the killing +of seals in Newfoundland waters, the object being to prevent their +extermination. + +A political question that especially engaged the attention of the +colony at this time was its relation to the Canadian Federation, but +no progress was made towards the solution of the long standing +problem. The following year it became again the chief concern (apart +from the war) of the island's electorate. In June the question was +raised in the Federal House of Commons at Ottawa; and members spoke in +favour of union, declaring that from information received it appeared +that the disposition of Newfoundland was becoming more and more in +favour of it.[53] In July a coalition Ministry was established, and a +Bill was passed prolonging the life of the Parliament for twelve +months, as it would normally have expired in October. In the early +part of this year, Sir Edward Morris, the Premier, was in London and +represented Newfoundland at the Imperial War Conference. + +During the last year of the war the population found itself much more +affected by the world conflict than it had been in the preceding +years. Additions to the Newfoundland contingent under the voluntary +system were becoming inadequate: accordingly, the new Government, of +which Mr W.F. Lloyd was Premier, decided to introduce a Bill for the +purpose of establishing conscription. This was of a selective +character, that is, applying to all unmarried men and widowers without +children, between the ages of 19 and 39. The conscripts were to be +divided into four classes according to age, the youngest being called +up first. The Bill was passed, and the measure proved to be a +successful one. + +After the conclusion of the Armistice in November, the Prime Minister, +the Right Hon. Sir William F. Lloyd, K.C.M.G., acted as the +representative of Newfoundland at the Paris Peace Conference (1919). + +In concluding this chapter it will be of interest to give a few facts +and figures showing Newfoundland's effort and record in the war.[54] + + +(1) PERSONNEL + +At the outbreak of war there was no military force in Newfoundland. +There was, however, a pre-war establishment of 580 Naval Reservists +besides local Boys' Brigades. + +Newfoundland contributed to the fighting forces of the Empire 11,922 +all ranks, consisting of 9,326 men for the Army, 2,053 men for the +Royal Naval Reserve, 500 men for the Newfoundland Forestry Corps, and +43 nurses. + +The Royal Newfoundland Regiment furnished a battalion for the +Gallipoli campaign and sent 4,253 men to France and Belgium, suffering +the following casualties: + +Killed in action and died of wounds 1,082 +Died from other causes 95 +Missing 18 +Prisoners of War 152 +Wounded 2,314 + ----- +Total 3,661 + +The following decorations were won by the Regiment: + +1 V.C., 2 C.M.G., 4 D.S.O., 28 M.C., 6 Bars to M.C., 33 D.C.M., 1 Bar +to D.C.M., 105 M.M., 8 Bars to M.M., 1 O.B.E., 22 Mentions in +Despatches, 21 Allied Decorations, 3 other medals: Total, 234. + +In the Royal Naval Reserve 167 men were killed in action and 124 +invalided out of the Service. + +3,000 Newfoundlanders enlisted in the Canadian and other forces +(outside Newfoundland), but there is no statistical record of +casualties regarding them, although it is known they were heavy. + + +(2) MONEY, ETC. + +Total receipts, Cot Fund[55] $129,200 + " " Aeroplane Fund 53,487 + " " Red Cross Fund 151,500 + " " Patriotic Fund 166,687 + +A War Loan of $6,000,000 was raised by Newfoundland. + +A large quantity of Red Cross material, etc., was sent from the +Dominion during the war to the various organizations overseas, in +addition to many thousands of dollars worth of comforts for the +troops. + +Newfoundland provided the pay and allowances of the Royal Newfoundland +Regiment (6,326 all ranks) and made up the difference in pay to bring +the Royal (Newfoundland) Naval Reserve to the same scale as that of +the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, besides equipping the Royal +Newfoundland Regiment before proceeding overseas. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[51] See a letter from the able correspondent of _The Times_ in +Newfoundland, November 6th, 1900. + +[52] P.T. M'Grath, "Newfoundland in 1911," p. 24. + +[53] This question has already been referred to several times in the +preceding pages (see especially beginning of chap. viii). It may be +added here that in March 1906, the Prime Minister of Canada stated +that the Government of Newfoundland was fully aware that the +Government of Canada was ready to entertain a proposal for the entry +of the island into the confederation. + +[54] For the statement following the writer is indebted to Sir Edgar +Bowring, the High Commissioner of Newfoundland. + +[55] Instead of maintaining a hospital overseas, Newfoundland +supported 301 beds in addition to 32 in Newfoundland. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE FRENCH SHORE QUESTION + + +It has been impossible in the above pages to avoid reference to the +Anglo-French disputes in Newfoundland, but it seemed convenient to +postpone a detailed examination of the question to a separate chapter. +No apology is necessary for such a chapter even in a work so slight as +the present, for the French Shore question was chronically acute in +Newfoundland, and the French claims, like George III.'s prerogative, +were increasing, had increased, and ought to have been diminished. The +dispute is partly historical, partly legal, and can only be explained +by reference to documents of considerable age. + +The French connection with Newfoundland was encouraged by the nearness +of Canada, and in quaint names, such as Bay Facheuse and Point +Enragee, it has bequeathed lasting reminders. For centuries the +French, like the Dutch, went on giving too little and asking too much. +By the time of Louis XIV. they had in fact established themselves--an +_imperium in imperio_--upon the south coast, and William of Orange in +the declaration of war against his lifelong enemy recited the English +grievances: + +"It was not long since the French took licences from the Governor of +Newfoundland to fish upon that coast, and paid a tribute for such +licences as an acknowledgment of the sole right of the Crown of +England to that island; but of late the encroachments of the French, +and His Majesty's subjects trading and fishing there, had been more +like the invasion of an enemy than becoming friends who enjoyed the +advantages of that trade only by permission." + +The Treaty of Ryswick, in 1697, contained no mention of Newfoundland, +and the French were, therefore, left in enjoyment of their possessory +claims. In 1710 the splendid genius of Marlborough had brought Louis +XIV. to his knees, and the arguments supplied by the stricken fields +of Blenheim and Ramillies, Oudenarde and Malplaquet, should have made +easy the task of English diplomacy. But from a corrupt political soil +sprang the Treaty of Utrecht, the first leading instrument in the +controversy of which we are attempting to collect the threads. The +merits of the dispute cannot be understood without a careful study of +Article 13 of the Treaty. It was thereby provided that: + +"The island called Newfoundland, with the adjacent islands, shall from +this time forward belong of right wholly to Britain, and to that end +the town and fortress of Placentia, and whatever other places in the +said island are in possession of the French, shall be yielded and +given up within seven months from the exchange of the ratifications of +this Treaty, or sooner if possible, by the most Christian King to +those who have a commission from the Queen of Great Britain for that +purpose. Nor shall the most Christian King, his heirs and successors, +or any of their subjects, at any time hereafter lay claim to any right +to the said island and islands, or to any part of it or them. Moreover +it shall not be lawful for the subjects of France to fortify any place +in the said island of Newfoundland, or to erect any building there, +besides stages made of boards, and huts necessary and useful for +drying of fish, or to resort to the said island beyond the time +necessary for fishing and drying of fish. But it shall be allowed to +the subjects of France to catch fish and to dry them on land in that +part only, and in no other besides that, of the said island of +Newfoundland, which stretches from the place called Cape Bonavista to +the northern point of the said island, and from thence, running down +by the western side, reaches as far as the place called Point Riche. +But the island called Cape Breta, as also all others, both in the +mouth of the River St. Lawrence and in the Gulf of the same name, +shall hereafter belong of right to the French, and the most Christian +King shall have all manner of liberty to fortify any place or places +there." + +The Treaty of Paris, in 1763, confirmed this arrangement, and twenty +years later the Treaty of Versailles contained the following provision +upon the subject: + +"The XIIIth Article of the Treaty of Utrecht and the method of +carrying on the fishery, which has at all times been acknowledged, +shall be the plan upon which the fishery shall be carried on there; it +shall not be deviated from by either party; the French fishermen +building only their scaffolds, confining themselves to the repair of +their fishing vessels, and not wintering there; the subjects of His +Majesty Britannic on their part not molesting in any manner the French +fishermen during their fishing, nor injuring their scaffolds during +their absence." But for the boundaries prescribed by the Treaty of +Utrecht (viz. those limited by Cape Bonavista and Point Riche) new +boundaries were substituted, viz., those limited by Cape St. John +round by the north to Cape Ray. The coast thus indicated came to be +known as the "French shore." + +As the declaration annexed to the above treaty was often relied upon +by French diplomatists, it may be conveniently set forth in this +place: + +"... In order that the fishermen of the two nations may not give a +cause of daily quarrels, His Britannic Majesty will take the most +positive measures for preventing his subjects from interrupting in any +manner by their competition the fishery of the French during the +temporary exercise of it which is granted to them.... His Majesty will +... for this purpose cause the fixed settlement which shall be found +there to be removed, and will give orders that the French fishermen +shall not be incommoded in the cutting of wood necessary for the +repair of their scaffolds, huts, and fishing boats." + +The title of an Act of Parliament passed in 1782 in pursuance of this +treaty was also pressed into the service of the French contention: + +"An Act to enable His Majesty to make such regulations as may be +necessary to prevent the inconvenience which might arise from the +competition of His Majesty's subjects and those of the most Christian +King in carrying on the fishery on the coasts of the island of +Newfoundland." + +No material alteration in the position took place from 1782 to 1792, +and the Treaty of Peace of 1814 declared that "the French right of +fishery at Newfoundland is replaced upon the footing upon which it +stood in 1792." + +On these documents a very simple issue arose. According to the English +contention their cumulative effect was to give the French a concurrent +right of fishery with themselves upon the coasts in question. It was +maintained, on the other hand, by France that her subjects enjoyed an +exclusive right of fishing along the so-called French shore. + +It may be said at once that the course of English diplomacy was almost +uniformly weak, and was in fact such as to lend no small countenance +to the French contention. Thus, for many years it was the policy of +the Home Government to discourage the colonists from exercising the +right which was always alleged in theory to be concurrent. Nor did the +Imperial complaisance end here. The French fishermen and their +protectors from time to time put forward pretensions only to be +justified by a revival of the sovereignty which was extinguished by +the Treaty of Utrecht. Thus, they attempted systematically to prevent +any English settlement at all upon the debatable shore. For +residential, mining and agricultural purposes this strip would thus be +withdrawn from colonial occupation. It is much to be regretted that +these claims were not summarily repudiated. The Imperial Government, +however, encouraged them by forbidding any grants of land along the +area in dispute. Under these circumstances the theoretical assertion +of British sovereignty by which the prohibition was qualified was not +likely to be specially impressive. The islanders acquiesced in the +decision with stolid patience, but, undeterred by the consequent +insecurity of tenure, settled as squatters in the unappropriated +lands. As recently as forty years ago their title was still +unrecognized, and the presence of thousands of settlers with +indeterminate claims had become a dangerous grievance. In 1881 Sir +William Whiteway, then Premier of the colony, paid a visit to England, +and his powerful advocacy procured recognition for the title of the +settlers to their lands, and brought them within the pale of the +Queen's law. + +The French shore cod fishery was recently so poor compared with the +Great Bank fishery that French fishermen abandoned the former for the +latter; and, in fact, but for a recent development of the French +claim, it would have been possible to say of the whole question +_solvitur ambulando_. + +The development referred to sprang from the growing lobster industry +along the French shore. In 1874 and the following years lobster +factories were erected by British subjects on the French shore, in +positions where there was no French occupation and there were no +French buildings. Here there was no violation of the Treaty of Utrecht +provision, for the French were in no way restrained from "erecting +stages made of boards, and huts necessary and useful for drying of +fish," nor was there any violation of the declaration annexed to the +Treaty of Versailles, that "His Britannic Majesty will take the most +positive measures for preventing his subjects from interrupting in any +way by their competition the fishery of the French during the +temporary exercise of it which is granted them." The "fishing" which +was not to be interrupted by competition was the fishery "which is +granted to them," a limitation which throws us back at once upon the +language of the earlier treaties. Now it is indisputably clear that +the only fishing rights granted to the French were concerned with +codfish. The lobster industry was then unknown; and the language used, +and in particular "the stages and huts necessary and useful for drying +fish" spoken of, are applicable to codfish and not to lobsters, for +the canning industry was only of recent date, and lobsters, moreover, +are not dried. No fishery other than that of the codfish could then +have been contemplated. That this must have been abundantly clear is +apparent from the memoirs of M. de Torcy, one of the negotiators of +the treaty, who uses throughout the expression "morue" (codfish)--the +liberty stipulated was "pecher et secher les morues" (to fish and dry +codfish). The French, however, not content with objecting to the +presence of English factories, erected factories of their own, +comprehending them, it must be presumed, within the description "huts +necessary and useful for the drying of fish." They contended, +furthermore, that their rights were a part of the ancient French +sovereignty retained when the soil was ceded to England. Such a claim +was inadmissible on any view of the treaties. In fact, there was much +to be said for the view that no _exclusive_ right of fishery of any +sort was ever given to the French, in spite of the language of the +celebrated Declaration. As Lord Palmerston wrote, some eighty years +ago, to Count Sebastiani, in his unambiguous way: "I will observe to +your Excellency, in conclusion, that if the right conceded to the +French by the Declaration of 1783 had been intended to be exclusive +within the prescribed district, the terms used for defining such right +would assuredly have been more ample and specific than they are found +to be in that document; for in no other similar instrument which has +ever come under the knowledge of the British Government is so +important a concession as an exclusive privilege of this description +accorded in terms so loose and indefinitive. Exclusive rights are +privileges which from the very nature of things are likely to be +injurious to parties who are thereby debarred from some exercise of +industry in which they would otherwise engage. Such rights are, +therefore, certain at some time or other to be disputed, if there is +any maintainable ground for contesting them; and for these reasons, +when negotiators have intended to grant exclusive grants, it has been +their invariable practice to convey such rights in direct, +unqualified, and comprehensive terms, so as to prevent the possibility +of future dispute or doubt. In the present case, however, such forms +of expression are entirely wanting, and the claim put forward on the +part of France is founded simply upon inference and upon an assumed +interpretation of words." + +It was, in fact, as Lord Palmerston argued, a perfectly open +contention that on the authorities no exclusive right was ever given +to the French, but the demeanour of this country had been such as to +render the position difficult and unconvincing. We are, however, upon +much firmer ground when we come to close quarters with the French +claims to rights of lobster fishing. The claim was first clearly +advanced in 1888, that none but Frenchmen were entitled to catch +lobsters and erect preserving factories upon the French shore. This at +once elicited an incisive English remonstrance, in deference to which +French diplomacy had recourse to the evasion that the factories were +merely temporary. They were not, however, removed, and finally in 1889 +further remonstrances by Lord Salisbury were met with the bold +contention that these factories were comprehended within the language +of the treaties. The English Government met this _volte face_ with a +feeble proposal to resort to arbitration--a proposal which the +islanders declined with equal propriety and spirit. The consequent +position was vividly and faithfully stated by Sir Charles Dilke, in a +passage which may be quoted in full: + +"Instead of protecting British fishermen in the prosecution of their +lawful avocation, and resisting the new claim of the French, our +Government, after failing to enforce the claim of the French, tried to +go to arbitration upon it before a Court in which the best known +personage was to have been M. de Martens, the hereditary librarian of +the Russian Foreign Office, whose opinion on such points was hardly +likely to be impartial. Luckily, the French added a condition, the +enormity of which was such that the arbitration has never taken place, +and it may be hoped now never will. + +"While British officers were backed up by the Government in most +arbitrary action on behalf of the French and against the colonists, +the theory continued to be that the French pretensions were disputed +by us. At the end of 1889 the Home Government sent for the Prime +Minister of Newfoundland, who came to England in 1890. A _modus +vivendi_ was agreed to preserving such British lobster factories as +existed, and the French Government agreeing that they would undertake +to grant no new lobster-fishing concessions 'on fishing grounds +occupied by British subjects,' whatever that might mean. But the +limitation was afterwards explained away, and the _modus vivendi_ +stated to mean the _status quo_. The Colonial Government strongly +protested against the _modus vivendi_, as a virtual admission of a +concurrent right of lobster fishing prejudicial to the position of +Newfoundland in future negotiation; and there can be no doubt that the +adoption of the _modus vivendi_ by the British Government without +previous reference to the colony, and against its wish, was a +violation of the principle laid down by the then Mr Labouchere, when +Secretary of State in 1857, and by Lord Palmerston. Our Government +deny this, because they expressly reserved all questions of principle +and right in the agreement with the French, and that is so, of course; +but there can be no doubt about the effect of what they did. + +"By an answer given by an Under-Secretary of State in the House of +Commons, the views of the Newfoundland Government were misrepresented, +it being stated that they 'were consulted as to the terms of the +_modus vivendi_, which was modified to some extent to meet their +views, although concluded without reference to them in its final +shape'; but the Newfoundland Government insisted that the terms of the +_modus vivendi_ had not been modified in accordance with their views, +as they had protested against the whole arrangement. The Home +Government quibbled and said that the answer showed that the +Newfoundland Government were not responsible for the _modus vivendi_ +as settled. Plain people, however, must continue to be as indignant as +the colonists are at the misrepresentation and the breach of Mr +Labouchere's principle. + +"The terms of the _modus vivendi_ accord to unfounded pretensions the +standing of reasonable claims, and confer upon the French the actual +possession and enjoyment of the rights to which these claims relate. +Mr Baird refused to comply with the _modus vivendi_. Sir Baldwin +Walker, commanding on the coast, landed a party of blue-jackets in +1891, and took the law into his own hands against Mr Baird, was sued +for damages, and twice lost his case.[56] There had existed an +Imperial Act under which Sir Baldwin Walker might have been protected, +but it had been repealed when self-government was granted to +Newfoundland. In the same year of 1891 a Newfoundland Act was passed, +under heavy pressure from the Home Government, compelling colonial +subjects to observe the instructions of the naval officers to the +extent of at once quitting the French shore if directed, and the Act +was to be in force till the end of 1893. The Home Government had +passed a Bill through the House of Commons, and dropped it, before it +received the Royal assent, only after the Prime Minister of +Newfoundland had been heard at the bar of both Houses and had promised +colonial legislation. The French Government have insisted that a +British Act should be passed; and Lord Salisbury, while declaring that +there ought to be a permanent Colonial Act, has always refused to +promise a British Act. To my mind, the Newfoundland people went too +far in giving up their freedom by passing the Act which I have named, +an Act to which, had I been a member of the Newfoundland Legislature, +nothing would have induced me to consent; and my sympathies are +entirely with the Newfoundlanders in their refusal to part with their +freedom, for all time, by making so monstrous a statute permanent." + +The _modus vivendi_ treaty was periodically renewed by the Colonial +Legislature with a submissiveness which would have seemed excessive if +they had not been pressed with the shibboleth of Imperial interest. At +the same time, signs of restiveness were not wanting. The complaints +of the Newfoundlanders became more frequent, more insistent, and more +emphatic. They pointed out that the French virtually claimed a +monopoly of an 800-mile shore, which was entirely British of right, +that in consequence they interfered with the development of the mining +industry, and the extension of railways, and that thereby they were +seriously hampering the progress of the colony. The case put forward +by the colonists was historically strong, and there was much to be +said for the contention that they were entitled to everything they +claimed: on any view they could rightly complain of a cruel injustice, +so long as the indolence or incompetence of English diplomacy suffered +a debatable land to survive in the teeth of an undebatable argument. + +In August, 1898, at the request of the Newfoundland Government, a +Royal Commission was appointed by Mr Chamberlain, and sent out the +following year, for the purpose of inquiring into the whole question +of French treaty rights. A good deal of evidence was given by local +colonists of acts of French aggression, and of consequent injury in +person and property. But the report remained unpublished. Such +aggression was in keeping with the instructions issued in 1895 by the +French Premier and Foreign Minister to the commanders of the French +warships on this station: "To seize and confiscate all instruments of +fishing belonging to foreigners, resident or otherwise, who shall fish +on that part of the coast which is reserved for our use"--instructions +that amounted to an arbitrary assertion of territorial sovereignty. +And yet the actual interests of France were very meagre: thus in 1898, +on a coastline where some 20,000 Newfoundlanders were settled in 215 +harbours, there were only 16 French stations and 458 men on the +800-mile shore; in 1903 only 13 stations and 402 men.[57] + +In 1901 when the vexed question came once again before the +Newfoundland Legislature, the Government declared that in renewing the +_modus vivendi_ for the following year, they did so only in +consideration of the obstacles then in the way of the Imperial +Government to securing a satisfactory settlement of the whole matter. + +In 1904 the Newfoundland Government refused to relax the Bait Law any +more; and France then consented to enter into the notable agreement, +which once for all abolished the inveterate grievances and +difficulties arising out of the "French shore" question. In +consideration of certain territorial privileges in West Africa, France +agreed to relinquish her rights as to landing and drying fish on the +treaty shore, which had been recognized by the Treaty of Utrecht. +French subjects injured by this arrangement were to receive such +compensation from Great Britain as would be awarded by a tribunal +consisting of one representative of each contracting party, assisted +by an umpire if necessary. The French were to enjoy the same rights as +British subjects of fishing on the coast generally, and were permitted +to take bait, which they had been forbidden to do by the Newfoundland +Act of 1886. This convention did not affect the applicability of local +law as to bait in regard to the non-treaty coast. + +Newfoundland was satisfied with this change. After the ratification of +the agreement, the new Governor, Sir William MacGregor, telegraphed to +Mr Lyttelton, the Minister for the Colonies, asking him to convey to +the King the people's acknowledgment of the "great boon" conferred by +the Convention, which His Majesty was chiefly instrumental in +initiating, and to the British Government for having safeguarded the +interests of the colony in negotiations involving so many +difficulties. That this view represented that of the population at +large was shown by the return to office (October) of Sir Robert Bond +and his colleagues with a very strong majority. + +Soon afterwards an _entente cordiale_ was established between +Newfoundland and the French colony of St. Pierre and Miquelon. + +Thus, "the Anglo-French chapter--some four centuries long--closed; and +the lobster, which darkened its closing paragraphs, ceased to be a +force in history."[58] + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[56] [See _Baird_ v. _Walker_, Law Reports, 1891, Appeal Cases, p. +491.] + +[57] M'Grath, _op. cit._, p. 149. + +[58] Rogers, _op. cit._, p. 225. + + + + +INDEX + + +Abandonment Suggested, 85, 106 + +Admirals, Fishing, 70, 71, 84, 85, 86, 98, 99 + +Amiens, Peace of, 102 + +American Independence, War of, 95 + +American prohibition of trade, 91 + +American Rebellion, 90 + +Area of Newfoundland, 8 + + +Bacon, Sir Francis, 15, 66, 96 + +Baird, Mr, 182, 183 + +Bait Law, 185 + +Baltimore, Lord, 64, 70, 89 + +Banks Disaster, 135-142 + +Bannerman, Governor, 120 + +Basque Pioneers, 26, 47 + +Bathurst, Lord, 107 + +Beauclerk, Lord Vere, 85 + +Beazley, Mr Raymond, 30, 32, 35 + +Blaine, J.G., 128 + +Blaine-Bond incident, 128 + +Board of Trade, The, 78 + +Boeothics, 17, 102 + +Bonavista, Cape, 35 + +Bond, Sir Robert, 128, 162, 163, 186 + +Bond-Morris, Coalition, 155, 162 + +Bonfoy, Governor, 90 + +Bonnycastle, Sir Richard, 8, 19, 75 + +Boulton, Chief Justice, 110 + +Boys' Brigades, 166 + +Breton, Cape, Attack on, 87 + +Bristol, 30, 36, 67, 71 + +British indifference, 46, 76, 81, 84, 88, 91, 95, 176, 180, 182 + +Buchan, Captain, 105 + +Burleigh, Lord, 53 + +Burrill's Attack, 82 + +Bute, Lord, 88 + + +Cables, Transatlantic, 7, 120 + +Cabot, John, 26-32, 35-6, 42-3 + +Cabot, Sebastian, 17, 28, 30, 39, 40, 43 + +_Calypso_, H.M.S., 165 + +Canada, 126, 129 + +Canada, Proposed Union with, 126, 135, 138, 162, 163, 166 + +Canadian Sympathy, 115, 134 + +Carbonier, 83 + +Carson, Dr William, 104, 107, 109 + +Cartier, 18, 50 + +Casualties in Great War, 168 + +Chamberlain, Mr, 144-154 + +Charles, I., 74, 75, 81 + +Charles II., 81 + +Cinderella of colonial history, 75 + +Climate, 9, 57 + +Coalition Ministry, 167 + +Cochrane, Governor, 107, 108, 123 + +Colonization, 45 + +Colville, Admiral Lord, 87 + +Columbus, Christopher, 26, 27, 41 + +Commercial Bank, 135 + +Commissioners of Foreign Plantations, 74 + +Committee of Trade and Plantations, 77 + +"Company of Adventurers and Planters," 67 + +Conscription, 167 + +Cook, Captain, Survey of, 89 + +Copper, 12 + +Cortereal, Gaspar, 47 + +Council, Governing, 107 + +Court of Civil Jurisdiction, 98 + +Courts of Session, 98 + +Crewe, Lord, 164 + +Customs, survival of, 79 + + +Decorations won in Great War, 169 + +d'Haussonville, Count, 87 + +de Martens, M., 181 + +Dilke, Sir Charles, 180 + +di Raimondi, Raimondo, 31, 35, 43 + +Discovery, the age of, 22 + +Dorrell, Governor, 89 + +Drake, Sir Barnard, 65 + +Duckworth, Governor, Sir Thomas, 103, 104 + + +Economic position, 20, 92, 122, 137 + +Edward VII., 186 + +Elizabeth, Queen, 54 + +Ericsson, Leif, 25 + +European War, (1914-19), 164-170 + +Exploits River, 11 + + +Falkland, Lord, 70 + +Famine, 105 + +Financial crisis, 135 + +Fires at St John's, 106, 115, 134 + +Fishing industry, 8, 13, 37, 40, 45, 48, 52, 60, 86, 92, 136, 164-5, 173 + +Fishing regulations, 67, 74 + +Fisheries Commission, 1890, 15 + +Fisheries, Department of Marine and, 16 + +Foreign fishing vessels Act, 129 + +Foreign traders, duty on, 81 + +France, conflict with, 82, 83, 87 + +France, fishing concessions to, 67, 84, 175, 179 + +French aggression, 23, 81, 82, 96, 172, 185 + +French, agreement with, 185 + +French and fishing industry, 47, 84, 88, 105, 172-3 + +French claims, 171, 178, 184 + +French colonization, 64 + +French fishing interests, 98, 102 + +French settlement, 81 + +French shore question, 171, 186 + +French surrender, 87 + +French voyagers, 50 + + +Gallipoli, 168 + +Gambier, Governor, 102 + +Gibbs, Mr, 158 + +Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, voyage of, 53-63 + +Goodridge, Mr, 140 + +Governor, first, 85 + +Gower, Governor, 103 + +Grand Falls, 12 + +Grand Newfoundland Bank, 14 + +Graves, Admiral Lord, 87, 89 + +Greene, Mr, 140 + +Grenville, Sir Richard, 53 + +Grey, Earl, 117 + +Guy, John, 67 + + +Hague Arbitration, 16, 129 + +Hakluyt, Richard, 51, 53 + +Harmsworth, Messrs, 161 + +Harvey, Governor, 115 + +Hay-Bond Treaty, 129 + +Hayes, Captain Edward, 9, 55, 57-62 + +Hayman's, Robert, verses, 72 + +Henry VII., 24, 29, 42, 43 + +Henry VIII., 24, 48, 50 + +Hill, Governor, 131 + +Historians, 8 + +Hobart, Lord, 102 + +Hore's voyage, 51 + +Hospital, first, 103 + +House of Assembly, 109, 112 + +Hoyles, Mr, 121 + + +Imperial War Conference, 167 + +Imports and exports, 20 + +Industries, development of, 124, 160, 161, 184 + +Iron mines, 161 + + +James I., 66 + +Justices of the Peace, 85, 86, 90 + +Justice, Administration of, 77, 90, 98 + + +Keats, Governor, 104 + +Kent, John, 111, 120 + +Kielly, Dr, 111 + +King, Governor, 100 + +Kirke, Sir David, 74 + + +Labouchere, Mr H., 181 + +Labrador, 9, 35, 47, 89 + +Lakes, 11 + +La Salle, 64 + +_Latona_, H.M.S., mutiny on, 100 + +Laws, first, 56 + +Leake, Admiral Sir John, Attack by, 83 + +Lecky, W.E.H., 96 + +Legislative Council, 110 + +Legislative power, establishment of, 102 + +Lilly, Mr Justin, 111 + +Lloyd, Sir Wm. F., 167-8 + +Lobster fishery, 177, 180 + +Lyttelton, Hon. Alfred, 186 + + +M'Callum, Governor, 158 + +MacGregor, Sir William, 163, 186 + +Mansion House Fund, 135 + +Markland, 25 + +Mason, Captain John, 68, 72 + +_Matthew_, The, 30 + +May March, 19 + +_Mayflower_, The, 64 + +Merchants, 23, 69, 76, 80, 86, 99, 105, 106, 108 + +Milbanke, Governor, 98 + +Mineral resources, 8, 12, 161 + +Montague, Governor, 92 + +Morine, Mr, 157-8, 162 + +Morison, Mr, 162 + +Morris, Sir Edward, 162, 163, 167 + +Murray, Governor Sir Herbert, 144, 149 + +Musgrave, Governor, 126 + + +Native inhabitants, 17, 19 + +Native races, 16 + +Natural features, 8, 11, 57, 58 + +Naval Reserve, 165, 168, 170 + +Newfoundland Act, the, 183 + +Newfoundland forestry corps, 168 + +Newspaper, the first, 103 + +Norse explorers, 25 + +Nova Scotia, 85, 106 + + +O'Brien, Sir Terence, 135 + +O'Donnell, Bishop, 102, 122 + +Osborne, Captain Henry, 85 + +Ougier, Peter, 108 + +Oyer and Terminer, Commissioners of, 86 + + +Pakington, Sir John, 117 + +Palmerston, Lord, 178, 182 + +Palliser, Governor, 88 + +Palliser's Act, 92 + +Panama Canal, 164 + +Paper Industry, 161 + +Paris, Treaty of, 87, 104, 174 + +Parke, Chief Baron, 112 + +Parkhurst, Anthony, 52 + +Pasqualigo, Lorenzo, 31 + +Pedley, Rev. C., 83, 89, 101 + +Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, 32, 39, 42 + +Pickmore, Governor, 105-7 + +Pitt, William (Lord Chatham), 87, 88, 97 + +Placentia, Attack on, 83 + +Plantations, 18, 66, 74, 77, 79, 95, 96 + +Planters, 18, 68, 76, 77 + +Poor Relief, 102, 123, 124, 131, 139 + +Population, 20, 77, 91, 93, 94, 102, 126, 132, 137 + +Popham, Sir John, 67 + +Portuguese, 24, 47, 52, 54 + +Post Office, 103 + +Prescott, Governor, 115 + +Prohibition, 166 + +Prowse, Chief Justice, 8, 30, 35, 109, 126 + + +Railways, 21, 124, 131, 132, 133, 159, 184. + (See also Reid Contract and Reid Newfoundland Company) + +Raleigh, Sir Walter, 22, 53, 63, 65 + +Ramusio, 32, 39, 40, 42 + +Reeves, Chief Justice, 99 + +Reed, Albert, Company, 161 + +Reid Contract, 133, 143-159 + +Reid Newfoundland Company, 159-161 + +Religion and religious differences, 20, 70, 89, 102, 112, 121 + +Rent, first levied, 75 + +Revenue and expenditure, 20 + +Rivers, 11 + +Roads, first, 107 + +Roberval, 50 + +Rocky River, 12 + +Rodney, Governor, 86 + +Rogers, J.D., 8, 13, 66 + +Royal Commission, 184 + +Royal Newfoundland Regiment, 100, 102 + +"Royal Gazette," The, 103 + +Rut, John, 50 + +Ryswick, Treaty of, 82, 172 + + +Salisbury, Marquis of, 180, 183 + +Savings Bank, 135 + +Seal Fisheries, 115, 166 + +Sebastiani, Count, 179 + +Self-Government demanded, 104, 107, 116 + +Settlers, 74, 77, 78, 102, 177 + +Shanandithit, 19 + +Shipping, 21 + +Smith, Adam, 95 + +Sothern, Captain, 100 + +Southampton, Mayor of, 78 + +Spain and Spaniards, 24, 29, 36, 45, 52, 54, 65 + +_Squirrel_, The, 54, 63 + +St George's Bay, 131 + +St John's, 7, 55, 83, 87, 103, 106, 116, 121, 134 + +St John's, Capture by French, 83 + +St John's, Surrender to French, 87 + +Stamp Act, 91 + +Star Chamber, 70, 74, 76, 77 + +Storm at St John's, 116 + + +Taxation, 91, 97 + +Telegraphs, 7, 21, 120 + +Thirkill, 43 + + +Unemployment Problem, 124, 138 + +Union Bank, 135 + +United States, 128, 130, 164 + +United States, Fishing Industry, 105 + +Utrecht, Treaty of, 83, 102, 172, 174, 176 + + +Vaughan, Sir William, 69, 75 + +Verrazzano, 50 + +Versailles, Treaty of, 97, 177 + +Vesmond, Chevalier, 82 + +Vikings, 25 + +Volunteer Force, 165 + + +Waldegrave, Governor, 100, 102, 123 + +Walker, Sir Baldwin, 182 + +Wallace, Governor Sir Richard, 100 + +Walsingham, 65 + +War Loan, 169 + +West Country merchants, 76 + +West Country, sailors of, 30, 38, 65, 67 + +Weymouth, Mayor of, 78 + +Whitbourne, Sir Richard, 10, 18, 69, 71 + +Whiteway, Sir W., 139, 141, 177 + +William III., 82, 171 + +Willoughby, Sir Hugh, 17 + +Winter, Sir James, 143, 155, 158 + +Wireless Telegraphy, 7 + +Wolfe, General, 87 + + + + * * * * * + + + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 114: 'dissolve the Legislation.' replaced with | + | 'dissolve the Legislature.' | + | Page 143: incalulably replaced with incalculably | + | Page 147: inepitude replaced with ineptitude | + | Page 149: signficance replaced with significance | + | Page 190: Masou replaced with Mason | + | | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF NEWFOUNDLAND*** + + +******* This file should be named 18636.txt or 18636.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/3/18636 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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