respective inhabitants, any religions or modes of worship, as well as any usages or customs of the natives unless they are contrary to humanity and civilization.

37. The provisions contained in this Decree, as well as the Concessions made therein, shall in no way affect any acquired rights or any other Concessions made up to the date thereof by the Portuguese Government, provided the same shall not have already become null and void.

38. Should the Company fail to comply with the stipulations contained in this Decree, to discharge the public functions committed to it, and to respect and comply with the Treaties, Conventions, or Contracts with any foreign Powers, and with the Chiefs of the native tribes; should it abandon the agricultural, mining, commercial, and industrial exploration of the territories comprised in this Concession, the Government shall have the right to rescind the Contract made with the Company, after intimation shall have been given of their decision, without the Company being entitled to claim any compensation.

39. Any differences that may arise between the Government and the Company as regards the interpretation, execution, and rescission of the Contract shall be referred to a Court of Arbitration, which is to consist of two Arbiters named by the Government, of two named by the Company, and of a fifth Arbiter selected by agreement between them, and, failing such agreement, by the Supreme Court of Justice.

The Court of Arbitration shall give its decision ex æquo et bono, and its decisions will be final and without appeal.

40. The period of four months from the date of this Decree is fixed within which the Company must have fulfilled the conditions set forth in the paragraph of Article 1 increasing its capital and modifying its Statutes according to law. Should it fail to comply with these conditions within the period laid down, which cannot be prorogued, the whole of the provisions contained in this Decree will remain without effect.

41. The Government shall draw up the necessary Regulations for the carrying into effect of this Decree.

42. Any Laws contrary thereto are hereby revoked.

The said Minister and Secretary of State shall accordingly carry this Decree into effect.

Given at the Palace on the 11th February, 1891.

ANTONIO Jozé ENNES.

THE KING

CORRESPONDENCE between Great Britain and France, respecting the Newfoundland Fisheries.-1890, 1891.

[Continued from Vol. LXXXII, pages 993 to 1002.]

No. 1.-The Earl of Lytton to the Marquess of Salisbury.-(Received June 6.)

MY LORD,

Paris, June 5, 1890. M. RIBOT repeated to me yesterday that he had no recent information from Newfoundland.

He expressed confidence in the possibility of arriving at a final settlement of the Fishery question on terms satisfactory to England and France, but said that France could not take the initiative in making proposals for such settlement, nor expect Her Majesty's Government to do so until after consultation with the Representatives of the Newfoundland Government, who, he understood, had not yet arrived in England. I have, &c., The Marquess of Salisbury.

LYTTON.

No. 22.-The Marquess of Salisbury to the Earl of Lytton.

MY LORD,

Foreign Office, September 24, 1890. IN your Excellency's despatch of the 5th June last you reported that M. Ribot had expressed to you in conversation his confidence in the possibility of arriving at a final settlement of the Newfoundland Fishery question on terms satisfactory to England and France. His Excellency observed, however, that France could not take the initiative in making proposals for such settlement, nor expect Her Majesty's Government to do so until after consultation with the Representatives of Newfoundland who were expected in this country.

Since the date of your despatch Sir W. Whiteway, the Prime Minister of Newfoundland, and other Delegates from the Colony, have arrived in England. They have had repeated conferences with the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and Her Majesty's Government have received from them full information as to the wishes and feeling of the population in regard to this question, which is of vital importance to the Colony. I am, consequently, now enabled to give you instructions for entering upon the subject with the French Minister for Foreign Affairs at the earliest convenient opportunity.

The question, as you are aware, is one of great complexity, and

has been debated between the two Governments for many years without any solution having been arrived at.

The main points now in controversy between the two countries, as to the meaning of the international engagements which secure to the French rights of fishery on a portion of the shore of Newfoundland, appear to be the following:

1. Whether Great Britain, in virtue of her sovereignty over Newfoundland, possesses on that part of the coast rights of fishery concurrent with those of France and equal to them; or only rights which must be so exercised as not to disturb the fishery of France; or no rights of fishery at all.

2. Whether Great Britain, by granting to France the right of drying fish and cutting wood along this part of the shore, and by promising the removal of "établissements sédentaires," has engaged to prohibit her subjects from erecting any kind of building on that part of the shore, or only those buildings which are concerned with the fishery; and, if so, whether lobster factories are included in the prohibition.

3. To what depth inland do the prohibitions against building on the part of British subjects, whatever they may be, extend?

4. Do the words "permis de pêcher et de sécher le poisson" apply to all kinds of animals found in the sea; if not, to which kinds is the application limited ?

5. Do the Treaties, by prohibiting French subjects from any construction on the shore beyond " échafauds et cabanes nécessaires et usités pour sécher le poisson," prohibit them from erecting removable lobster factories?

There are, in addition to these, other questions of a less important character, which probably would not give much trouble if these primary questions were settled.

The temporary arrangement which was agreed upon between the two Governments for the regulation of this last question during the present fishing season appears to have worked satisfactorily upon the whole. Her Majesty's Government gladly acknowledge that this result has been largely due to the conciliatory instructions issued to the French Naval Commander, and to the friendly and considerate manner in which he has acted upon them.

But the arrangement, as you are aware, has been most unfavourably regarded in the Colony, where it has given rise to much agitation and excitement, and the British Naval Commander has met with considerable opposition in carrying it into effect, and his action has been made the subject of legal proceedings in the Colony.

It is scarcely, therefore, to be hoped that this modus vivendi, which was, in fact, merely a temporary compromise pending attempts

for a more permanent solution, could be indefinitely prolonged with advantage and convenience.

All the points of difference which I have enumerated above have been argued at great length, without either party having succeeded in producing conviction on the part of the other. Arbitration appears now to be the only method to which resort can be had, if a plain and authoritative definition is required of the extent and nature of the rights secured to France by the Treaties; and with respect at least to some of these we have received the assurance that the French Government is not unwilling to have recourse to this method of adjustment.

But Her Majesty's Government find, from the language of Sir William Whiteway and other Representatives of the Colony, that the wishes of the colonists are centred on the attainment of some arrangement for the termination of French rights upon their coast, and that they do not consider that arbitration, unless, indeed, it should form an accessory part of such an arrangement, would furnish such a solution as they desire.

They point out that even if the decision be given in the sense most favourable to Newfoundland, the curtailment of their powers of self-government involved in the existence of any French rights must still be a very serious impediment to the free development of the resources and industry of the Colony, and that, while the concession of rights to French fishermen was 'not incompatible with the circumstances of the time when it was made, when the coast in question was almost uninhabited, and when both the Contracting Parties looked upon Newfoundland mainly as a fishing ground for their respective seamen, it is not an arrangement which can be enforced without great inconvenience and suffering on a growing Colony, with the regular organization and institutions of present civil life. As the population on the coast increases the evil is naturally intensified, and threatens to lead to most serious consequences unless some complete remedy is applied. The method of fishery has materially altered since the Treaties were concluded, and owing to this change, to improved means of communication, and to the development of the Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon as a base for the French fishing operations, the use of the shore has ceased to be of great advantage to France, and the convenience to the French fishing industry is now extremely small in proportion to the injury which the Colony suffers from the restrictions imposed on the inhabitants. In proof of this, it is stated that out of some 800 French vessels with crews of over 9,000 men employed in the fishery, almost the whole resort to the banks, and that not more than 16, or, according to some accounts, only 7 or 8 vessels pursue the fishery on the coast of Newfoundland; the capital invested in

this portion of the French fishery being estimated at less thau 40,000. The private interests actually involved are not, therefore, very important, even if the value of the six or seven French lobster factories erected on the shore, the legality of which Her Majesty's Government have always contested, were added to this amount.

In exchange for the withdrawal of the French rights on the coast, the Colony is willing to offer full facilities for the purchase of bait, which is stated by French no less than by British authorities to be a matter of prime necessity, and is certainly of the greatest convenience to the French fishing-boats in enabling them to get early to the banks. Or, if preferred, the colonists would be prepared to make a reasonable money payment in consideration of the value of the advantages surrendered, and for compensation of the interests affected.

The Representatives of the Colony are convinced that an arrangement of this character would be highly profitable to France, and are anxious that no time should be lost in submitting it to the consideration of the French Government.

I request that your Excellency will give a copy of this despatch to M. Ribot, and in doing so will assure him that it would be a matter of cordial satisfaction to Her Majesty's Government if your overtures met with a favourable response. The question in its present condition is a source of constant anxiety to the two Governments, and there is little ground for hoping that, as time goes ou, this state of affairs will improve. Indeed, from the reasons which I have given above, the difficulties with which the matter is surrounded tend rather to aggravate than diminish. Even if the Treaties could be relieved from the obscurity of language which threatens to create so much perilous dispute between the two nations, the continued existence thereunder of any foreign rights must in any case remain burdensome to the colonists in a degree wholly out of proportion to the benefits which they secure to France. Her Majesty's Government are anxious scrupulously to fulfil their Treaty obligations towards France, but the necessity of enforcing them to the detriment of the Colony cannot be otherwise than unwelcome to them, as they believe it must be to the French Government. It would be greatly to the advantage of both countries if any reasonable arrangement could be arrived at for replacing existing engagements by others which would not be open to the same objections. I am, &c.,

The Earl of Lytton.

SALISBURY.