New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-04-25
THE NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERIES.

The fisheries of Newfoundland have long formed
a fruitful subject of dispute between the Govern
ments of France and England For period Of
thirty years the difficulty has remained unsettled,
a source of yexatlOn to successive Governors, Co
lOnal Secretaries and Foreign Ministers. Not I'll
about two years ago could basis be arrived at on
which the representatives of the two Governments
would agree to negotiate. convention was then
drawn up, by which it was expected that
the difficulty might be finally arranged; but
the Legislature of Newfoundland unanimously
rrpudiated this proposed settlement, as en-
trey One-sided, and as sacrificing the most
important interests of the Colony and of the British
fishermen, without any concessions on the part OF
the French, which could be- regarded as all equiv
alent; for the Convention being thus rejected, the
French Government resolved To fall back on their
own Interpretation of the original treaties, and TO
enforce what they considered to be their rights,
without any further attempt at negotiation This
involved the removal Of number of British settle
ments along that part of the coast some 400 miles,
to which the dispute related At one point, in St
Georges Bay, the population numbers from
200 1900, and there smaller settle
ments ut other places. The French, claim
ing the sole right of fishing ON this part OF
the coast gave notice last season that these settle
ments should be removed in accordance, as they
conceived, with the terms of the treaty Of 1853.
Their purpose was to take exclusive possession at
the commencement of the present season; but the
British Government, influenced by urgent repre-
sensations from the Colony, nterposed to stop the
progress of these proceedings by proposal for the
appointment of $tnixed commission, to proceed to
the fishing grounds in dispute, and to collect lnfor-
nation with view to a settlement, on terms that
might be satisfactory to both parties. This was
agreed to by the French Government, though not
without the expression Of an opinion on the part OF
Count Waewski, that there was little reason to
expect any good results from the labors OF such
commission.
Taking into account the determination of the
French Government with reference 10 this matter,
as indicated by recent proceedings and also by the
tone in which the negotiations have been conducted
by them of late years, it was not altogether with
out reason that Sir J.. b. Lytton, when the subject
was recently brought before the British Parlia-
ment, remarked that the question involves " some
serious grounds Of danger 1t may be thought
that there can BE- little actual danger in connection
with dispute that has gone unsettled 80 long as
thirty years. Were the question now in the
same position as ut any other time during
these thirty years there would be no more
ground for apprehension now than formerly.
But the decision on the part of the French
TO enforce what they conceive to be their
exclusive rights has brought the affair to crisis
which il never before reached and considering on
the one hand the great value which the French Gov
eminent attaches TO these fisheries tse chefnurse-
~ for its growing navy, and on the other hand the
very decided manner in which the Colony refuses to
part with It's alleged rights, this crisis, more paricu-
arly in the present state Of European affairs may be
regarded al not altogether unimportant The British
Government have, indeed, of late years, eylnced
disposition to make any concessions that the French
might desire; but from the spirit manifested by the
Legislature and people Of Newfoundland, such con-
ces.ions could not be made without endangerng the
British connection with that colony, and perhaps
also with the other British-8merican provinces,
which strongly sympathize in resistance to any
encrcschments on Coloaisl rights that may De