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1899

THE CONNECTION OF ENGLAND

WITH NEWFOUNDLAND

THOUGH the Northmen who settled in Greenland in the tenth century are said to have sighted Newfoundland, the first clearly ascertained discovery of the island by a European was that made in 1497 by John Cabot. Genoese by birth and Venetian by adoption, he was naturalised in England at the latter end of the fifteenth century. His ship, the Mathew, fitted out by English enterprise, was principally manned by Englishmen and sailed under a charter of the English king Henry the Seventh. The first fishermen in the waters of the island and the first settlers on its coasts were also Englishmen, and as the English people have ever since Cabot's discovery had a large part, and since the middle of the sixteenth century the leading part in its affairs, to describe fully the connection between England and Newfoundland would be to rewrite the whole of the recorded history of the colony. It is proposed, therefore, to confine attention to a few leading points.

On the return of Cabot's expedition, the wealth of fish in the Newfoundland seas became known in England; and in pursuit of it vessels provided with fishing gear and articles for trade with the natives were sent out to the island in the following year. But the chief benefit from Cabot's discovery was in the first instance obtained by foreigners; for even in 1578, according to Hakluyt, the English vessels employed in the Newfoundland fishing numbered only 50 out of 400, the more accessible seas of Iceland, Scotland, and Ireland rendering the new field of less importance to Englishmen than to others less favourably situated. Various facts, however, recently adduced, and especially the Act of Parliament of 1541 which deals with the fishery of Newland,' in common with those of 'Iseland,' 'Scotlands' and others, show to be an error the notion, at one time prevalent, that Newfoundland was altogether abandoned by England during the first half of the sixteenth century.

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On the 5th of August 1583 Newfoundland was formally annexed to the British Crown by Sir Humphrey Gilbert (half brother of Sir Walter Raleigh) under a commission from Queen Elizabeth which was read by him publicly at St John's, as the record states, 'before the 223

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Masters and principall officers of the shippes as well Englishmen as Spaniards, Portugalls and other nations.' Gilbert made various grants of land for fishing stations, refusing at the same time all applications for larger ones which seemed to contemplate permanent settlement. He enacted three laws, one of them for the establishment of the Church of England, and, setting out for return to England within the month of his arrival, he was lost with his ship before reaching there.

In Gilbert's refusal of grants for settlement we see one of the first indications of the policy which England for more than two centuries adopted, or permitted, with regard to its oldest colony. The landowners and merchants of the Western Counties, who had initiated the fishing industry of Newfoundland, wished to keep it to themselves, and with this object they and their successors (who with their employés were long known as 'The Adventurers') did all in their power by obstructing settlement in the island to prevent the growth of a resident population as being likely to interfere with their monopoly. For furthering this object their wealth and influence only too frequently enabled them to obtain the assistance of the English Government, and they thus occasioned a long series of efforts, extending even into the present century, directed to prevent the development and obstruct the progress of the colony. The part taken by the English Government in connection with the discovery of the island by no means redounds to its credit, and was a sinister omen of future dealings with it. Though Cabot's voyage of discovery was undertaken entirely at private expense, the Royal Charter necessary for it was obtained with difficulty, and only with a reservation for the Crown of one-fifth of the profits; and then, when his great work had been successfully accomplished, Cabot, though much fêted and called 'The Great Admiral' by the English people, appears to have received no recognition of his services from the Government beyond a gift from the Privy purse of 10l. to hym that found the new isle' and a pension of 20l. taken from the revenue of Bristol. Considering that Cabot's discoveries included not merely Newfoundland but the continent of North America, and led to the establishment of England's Transatlantic Empire, it may be said with truth that rarely in the history of the world have such great services been so meanly remunerated.

In 1610 the Adventurers' normal interest with the Court was temporarily overridden by the superior influence with James the First of Lord Chancellor Bacon. At his instigation a Royal Charter, and it is believed a considerable subsidy, were given to a company, in which he was interested, having ostensibly for its principal object the colonisation of Newfoundland. Though the elaborate provisions contained in the Charter, and probably having their origin in Bacon himself, show that he at all events had colonisation in view, it seems

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that the traders associated with him, if we may judge from their instructions to their first Governor, had an eye principally to the advantage to be gained over others interested in the fishery who were outside the Charter. These latter, however, had to be counted with, and indeed not only they but such settlers as had in spite of opposition already made their homes in the island, were not without substantial grounds for discontent. For though by the Charter there was a nominal reservation to those who trade or voyadge to the partes aforesaid for fishing of all liberties, powers, easements,' &c. which they had hitherto enjoyed, yet a title superior to all existing rights is given to the company in respect of an extent of territory which, however obscurely defined, certainly included nearly the whole peninsula of Avalon as well as the shores of Trinity Bay--in fact all, or nearly all, of the coast line which at that time was in use by Europeans. Discontent quickly made itself evident in action. Shortly after the arrival of Alderman John Guy, the first Governor under the Charter, the Crown was petitioned for protection against the 'planters' (as the colonists under the Charter were called), whom the migratory fishermen on return from their annual voyage to England had found occupying and excluding them from the best fishing places which they had until then regarded as belonging to themselves. From this petition, and the controversy which arose respecting it, it may be gathered that besides the grievances openly avowed there was another of equal or greater potency in the supersession by the new authority of the jurisdiction of the 'Fishing Admirals.' These functionaries, whose name so frequently occurs in the history of the island from early in the sixteenth until late in the eighteenth century, were chosen ordinarily each week of the season by the masters of fishing vessels from among their own number. Previously by recognised custom, and after 1633 with the express sanction of the Home Government, they exercised magisterial and executive control over the fishermen. Their rough justice, useful in some respects for maintaining order, was exercised tyrannously and often with gross partiality against residents in the interest of 'The Adventurers.' In the case of Guy's colony, however, both Adventurers and residents previous to the Charter united in opposition to it. When their petition failed of effect, they resorted to incendiarism and other hostile means of injuring the new colonists. Guy, having no force sufficient to cope either with the local obstruction or with the Moorish pirates who were continually plundering with impartiality both of the opposing parties, seems to have become quickly disgusted with his position, which he retained for only two fishing seasons. His colony, however, continued a precarious existence for some years, and then about 1630 disappears from history. Subsequent attempts at colonisation, under James the First, by Lord Baltimore, Lord Falkland, and others; under Charles the First, by Sir David Kirke in

concert with the Duke of Hamilton and others, all of them failed after an existence equally precarious and temporary. Though subsidiary causes of these successive failures were mismanagement, the nonresidence except for very short periods of those principally interested, and the incursions of Moorish and other pirates against which the very rare visits of ships-of-war afforded a very inadequate protection, the principal cause is to be found in the charters authorising these colonies, which, like that of Guy, showed complete indifference to pre-existing rights. Exceeding all others in grossness of injustice was the charter granted by Charles the First to the Duke of Hamilton, Sir David Kirke, and others. For not only, as containing a grant of the whole island of Newfoundland between latitudes 46° and 53°, did it absolutely ignore all pre-existing rights, including those antecedently granted by the Crown (such as those of Lord Baltimore, which were confirmed by a positive promise of the king made only six months before the date of the new charter), but it forbad settlement by prescribing penalties for residence within six miles of the shore, and gave to the charterers what was practically a fishing monopoly by prohibiting inhabitants from taking the first choice of fishing grounds. Fortunately the force supplied in aid of this charter was insufficient for the complete fulfilment of its tyrannical intentions, and planters' remained on the coast in spite of it; but the superior privileges accorded to the annually visiting fishermen, including the legalised jurisdiction of the Fishing Admirals, caused trouble which lasted for two centuries, their indirect effect for evil having hardly disappeared even now. The attitude of Cromwell towards Newfoundland was in marked contrast to that of the kings who preceded and succeeded him. Partly, perhaps, because the Adventurers had been in favour with the Court, and were therefore for the most part Royalists, he put an end to their exclusive privileges. His Commissioner, John Trevorgie-whom Mr. Prowse, in his History of Newfoundland, justly calls the first real Governor of the island-having sufficient force with him to check opposition, encouraged settlers and with a strong hand repressed the selfish injustice of the Adventurers. Under Trevorgie equal justice to all was almost for the first time seen in Newfoundland; both settlers and fishermen prospered as they never had before, and his short administration thus appears as one of the very few bright spots in the history of the island. Trevorgie suffered, however, in his own person from the normal neglect of Newfoundland which characterised the Home Government. His miserable salary was for six months. unpaid, and as a probable consequence he was arrested for debt by his own courts. Under Charles the Second, at the instance of the Adventurers, the rule of the Fishing Admirals was resumed, and, also in their interest, an Order of Council in 1675 was directed to the expulsion of the settlers. By another order dated

1676 the settlers were called upon to surrender all their property. Outrages on the latter on the part of the Adventurers were the natural result; and, according to a contemporary statement, 1500 men in three weeks would not repair the injury done in the first few days.' Bitter complaints from the colony brought about some improvement in 1677, when by a further order 'planters' were permitted to retain temporarily such houses and stages as were still left to them. Their petition for a Governor was, however, ignored. In the same reign the French were permitted to take possession of Placentia and to eject the English settlers there. During their occupation of the place, which continued intermittently up to the date of the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713, fighting between the French and English at Newfoundland was constant. Most of the English settlements were again and again destroyed, while St. John's itself was three times captured, being in 1708 completely destroyed, its garrison being made prisoners and sent to France. Brave resistance to these attacks was not unfrequently shown by the settlers and fishermen, notably in the defence of Bonavista in 1704. But the land force supplied by England, being ordinarily only a single company of soldiers, was far too weak for any adequate defence; and though in 1705 Lieutenants Moody and Latham made a most gallant resistance to the attacks of a greatly superior force upon the forts outside St. John's, they were unable to save the town. Newfoundland, in fact, at this period, 1662-1713, furnishes a specially humiliating page of English history-whether civil, naval, or military. While the sinister compact between Charles the Second and Louis the Fourteenth was in force, and when, as its result, the Dutch fleet sailed up the Thames and burnt Sheerness, it was unlikely that there would be any effective naval defence of Newfoundland. Dutch vessels accordingly made successful attacks in 1665 on St. John's and in 1673 on Ferryland, and the only advantage against them was obtained by an English fishing captain, Christopher Martin, who in the latter year gallantly beat off their attack on St. John's. When England was again at war with France, the spasmodic efforts of the English Government to retrieve disasters entirely failed of permanent effect. After the complete destruction of the English settlements by the French, Admiral Norris was sent out in 1697 with a large squadron and two regiments for the purpose of recapturing Newfoundland; but his efforts seem to have been principally confined to the re-building of the forts of St. John's. When the French fleet under Desmond appeared off that harbour he refrained from meeting it, and contented himself with putting a cable across the harbour. In fact, he made no attempt to attack the French either by land or sea. Again, in 1703 Admiral Graydon, though having under his command a large force of ships and soldiers, decided on the impracticability of attacking Placentia, and was on this account dismissed the service for

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