Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-06-20
THE STORY OF THE TROUBLE IN NEW.
FOUNDLAND

FOUNDLAND.
1t is probable that but few people in the
United States have clear idea of the
issues out of which grow the present diff
culties in Newfoundland between the En-
glish and the French, and that have so
reused the Newfoundlanders that they
threaten revolution if the French "aggres-
sions' are not at once checked.
The most intelligent account that has
been given of the matter is from the pen
of I'll. c. Goldsmith, in the National Re
gielD (London). 1t has the virtue of being
impartial and brief. From that source,
for the benefit of American readers, we
CLEAN still briefer statement of the facts,
which involves, by the way, much of the
romance of stirring history.
Newfoundland shores are much indented
by arms of the sea, bays and creeks.
Southwark from the island lie the innum-
cradle fishing banks, the feeding grounds
of the cod, and the sources of inexhausti-
bic supplies of various food fishes The
fishing industry is the main one of New
foundland, and in it there is immense cap
ital involved, while nearly the entire pop
ulation is dependent upon its prosecution.
There are two distinct fisheries of New
foundland-the inshore fishing and the
bank fisheries. The latter are of an inter
national character and free to all corners.
The grounds thus open to all are about
two hundred miles long and seventy miles
in breadth.
St. Johns, the capital of Newfoundland,
was founded in 1873 In 1884 England
took possession of it. About 1921 Lord
Baltimore settled the first English colony
on the peninsula of Avalon, and at or
about the same time the French settled
along the shores west and southwest Of the
island, with Placenta as their central
point for the fishing business. These set
Elements were, however, mere fishing
camps, and were annually abandoned with
the close of the curing season. Rivalries
between nationalties in Canada led to the
war against the French, ending with the
capture of Quebec, but Charles I. rein
stated the French in their possessions but
gave Sir David Kirke full possession of
Newfoundland.
The French rule was re-established on
his daatb ouar Nova Sat-, o. D.
and Canada. In 1856 the French OBJ
tanned permission to dry fish on the New
foundland shores on payment of per cent
of the value of the CATCH In 1875
Charles III. relinquished this duty, out of
respect for Louis XIV. From that time
the rapacity of the French augmented,
and in few years they had established
dominion over 200 miles of the southern
coast On the accession of William Ill,
in his proclamation declaring several other
causes for discomfort with France, he said
that her course in Newfoundland had been
of conquering enemy, rather than of
friend occupying the shores under grants
for which she had once paid duty in ac-
acknowledgement of English sovereignty.
War ensued, and Newfoundland became
the scene of naval and land battles. In
1894 Nesmond was sent to drive the En-
glish out, but failed; second expedition
had better luck, and the town of St. Johns
was taken and burned, as also some smaller
places. The treaty of Ryswick brought
hostilities to a close, but the French were
not driven out Of the island, as they should
have been.
When war broke out in 1902 it found
the French still engaged in efforts to hold
large coast sections and to dominate
wherever they fshed. A squadron was
sent from England to GUST them, but it
only succeeded in driving them from few
points, and their headquarters, Placenta,
they still held. The French then retail
aied and captured st. Johns The conflict
continued and the island was the scene Of
ceaseless quarrels and small battles until
the treaty of Utrecht, in 17lS, when the
whole country, with all adjacent islands,
was ordered to be the possession of En-
gland, and her title was fully recognized
But in the treaty it was stipulated that the
French might fish concurrentiy with the
English along more than half the coast,
and to use the shore for curing the catch.
This the French have always construed to
mean an exclusive privilege, and under it
they claimed the right to forbid English
settlement within the limits named, to wit,
from Cape Bonavista TO Point Roche.
The people of Newfoundland have al
ways contested this claim, and hotly, too !;
but the English Government, with la
mentable weakness, has never put the dis
puted ground under a distinctive local
government, as ii should have done. But
in 1873, until parliamentary jurisdiction
was granted recently to Newfoundland,
local magistrates were appointed over the
territory, and in 1881 the Government is
sued provisional grants to erect factories
and licenses 10 work mining grounds in
the contested districts, and has also since
made few grants OF lands to actual set
tiers,
From the treaty Of Utrecht TO the treaty
Of Paris, a period Of fifty years, England