FISHERIES. 237

Cape Breton to the French in return for Madras, which the forces of France had conquered two years before; by which means, that nation enjoyed the full advantages of the fisheries until 1759, when the surrender of Cape Breton, St John’s, and Canada, destroyed the French power in North America.

By the third and fourth articles of the treaty of Fontainbleau, signed in 1762, it was agreed, “ that the French shall have the liberty of fishing and drying on a part of the coasts of the island of New- foundland, as specified in the thirteenth article of the

treaty of Utrecht , and the French may also fish in the Gulf of St Law1ence, so that they do not exercise

the same but at the distance of three leagues from all the coasts belonging to Great Britain, as well those of the continent, as those of the islands 1n the said gulf. And as to what relates to the fishery out of the said gulf, the French shall exercise the same, but at the distance of fifteen leagues from the coasts of Cape Breton. Great Britain cedes to France, to serve as a shelter for the French fishermen, the islands of St Pierre and Miquelon; and his most Christian Majesty obliges himself, on his royal word, not to fortify the said islands, nor to erect any other buildings thereon, but merely for the convenience of the fishery; and to keep no more than fifty men for their police.”

In the history of the fishery, little of importance appears from this period until the commencement of the war with America, France, and Spain, which