New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-05-29
THE FRENCH IN BAY ST GEORGE.

II is difficult to understand the proceedings
of the French admiral in the Bay OF st. George
which are so graphically described IN our dls-
match from Newfoundland this morning. They
are certainly not in accordance with the under
standing which exists between the French and
English Cabinets and in their interference with
the rights of the American fishermen who were
batting in the Bay they have introduced into
the French Shore dispute a number of ques-
tons as unnecessary and unwelcome to us as
they must be embarrassing to France. 1t Is
greatly to be hoped that the French Govern
ment will allow us to be neutral spectators OF
their controversy, and that they will not COM
mission their warships to enforce French law
upon American citizens. Whatever may be
their views of the validity of our Treaty OF 1913
with England they can scarcely forget that we
have been enjoying its provisions for seventy
three years and that whether it is inconsistent
with their Treaty of Versailles or not, it IS not
to be set aside by the arbitrary proceedings OF
a French admiral.
II is the claim of France that by the Treaty
of Versailles in 1888 they obtained the ex-
clusive right to use the land and waters OF the
whole western coast Of Newfoundland for fish
efv purposes and without asserting any right
of settlement there themselves, they insist that
the $4,000 Newfoundlanders who have estab-
lished homes there during the present century
have done so in defiance of the treaty, and
being there under such circumstances they
claim that they are entitled to enforce their
rights upon these people by French naval
officers. "The instructions which have been
addressed to the commanders of our cruisers"
wrote NJ. Washington, the French Ambassador
in England to the Marquis of Salisbury on June
q, 1886, are to seize and confscate all in
struments of fishing belonging to foreigners @,
resident or otherwise, on that part of the coast
which is reserved for our use.'
There is no part of these extraordinary claims
which England does not deny save that the
French may fish off that coast and temporarily
land upon it to cure and dry their takes The
English assert that this right is in mo sense ex-
elusive but Is held concurrently with them
selves, and since 1918 a part of 1.-THE right
of tshing-with the Americans also. They
strongly deny any authority in French vessel
of-war " to do anything implying in any degree
the existence of French sovereignty in New
foundland waters" Nevertheless, such acts as
the French admiral has just committed in tho
Bay of st. George his predecessors have twice
before committed with this significant differ
ence-that no American interest has heretofore
been involved. Last summer, it Is true, a
French officer in this same Bay of st. George
went so far as to warn American fishing captains
that they were acting in violation of French
rights when they bought bait in western coast
harbors, but he made no forcible attempt to
drive off the sellers of it. This latest enter
prise is new assumption.
Our Treaty Of 1918, by which England con-
ferred upon us the same right of fishing along
the west coast which she had previously granted
to France, was made upon the theory that she
was still sovereign there and that she had con-
coded nothing to France of an exclusive kind.
Of course, If she was in error on that point and
can be brought to admit 1t, or is adjudged IN
error by competent court of arbitration, 1t
will follow that the American treaty is incon-
sistent with the French treaty, and France
could well argue that the later one must give
way to the earlier. But this Is very late day
TO raise such question, and our Government
has good grounds for insisting that seventy
years of usage have confirmed our rights be-
yond any possibility Of their withdrawal now,
especially in view of Lord Palmerston's declara-
ton in 1888 that the French and English rights
we're concurrent. At all events in the absence
of such an admission or adjudication, it is not
competent for France at her own pleasure to
abrogate our treaties nor for her naval officers
to invade or defy them. American captains are
at liberty to buy or catch all the bait they choose
in the Bay Of ST. George, and they must be
permitted to do so without molestation.