FRENCH FORTIFICATIONS AT ST. PIERRE.—OBSERVATIONS. (Hansard, 11 May 1860)

§ MR. HALIBURTON

said, pursuant to notice, he rose to call the attention of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the state of the French Fortifications at St. Pierre. He said it would be in the recollection of the noble Lord that he (Mr. Haliburton) stated on a former occasion that there were two small islands in the Straits of Belleisle, lying between Newfoundland and the Labrador coast, which having been taken from the French had been restored by treaty with certain fisheries annexed thereto; upon the conditions expressed in the treaty of 1763 they were to erect no buildings but for fishery purposes, were to keep only 50 soldiers for purposes of police, and, above all, were to erect no fortifications. Fortifications had, however, been erected there; and on the former occasion he asked whether his Lordship's attention had been called to that fact, and whether any steps had been taken, either by application from the Governor of Newfoundland or from the Government of this country, to the French Government, to restrain the erection of fortifications at St. Pierre. Unless some step of the kind were taken, in the event of a war these fortifications would be found extremely inconvenient. The island was so situated as to command the whole of the navigation of the Straits of Belleisle and the coast of Labrador; and a cruiser there might at any time intercept the navigation of the St. Lawrence. He had reason to know that in violation of the treaty 1110 a French squadron was kept there, and that the place had been converted from a fishing into a naval station. There were several French men-of-war there; he had himself seen those ships at Cape Breton, where they affected to wait for the mails, and whence they took hack largo quantities of coal to St. Pierre, in the meantime taking charts and soundings of all the coast. They had at the present moment 30,000 sailors there. It was really a matter of deep importance, because the island in question was out of the way. There was no human being to resort to it but those French fishermen and those men-of-war. It had no value except for its political importance and its command of the navigation. That a French squadron was there was a fact within his own knowledge. He had himself seen two ships at a time at Cape Breton; the French flag was constantly flying in that harbour, and that of Her Majesty was to be seen on a small fortification. Many of the inhabitants of the island were Frenchmen; he had nothing to say against them; they were mild and peaceable people, and well-disposed towards Her Majesty's Government; but they were Frenchmen; France was their fatherland; they spoke the same language and were influenced by the unity which was promoted by a common form of religion; they were, in fact, dangerous neighbours to have in that peculiar locality. The answer which the noble Lord gave him arose, he thought, from a misconception of what he had stated. His question applied to fortifications; the answer of the noble Lord was that certain questions had been referred to the law officers relative to the erection of certain buildings on the island in question. He (Mr. Haliburton) did not complain of the erection of any buildings; it was the setting up of batteries and guns, it was the making it a very dangerous point of which he complained. The few English fishermen who had at times frequented the place, seeing those batteries and asking the meaning of them, were told with a shrug, "Oh, this is the morning gun battery, and that is the evening gun battery; and they have been placed there by the Emperor." They make no secret of it at all. It did not become him to question any opinion that might be given by men so distinguished as the law officers of the Crown, but he might be permitted to question the form in which the proposition had been laid before them. In this country it was most difficult to ob- 1111 tain minute information of distant places like that to which he was now referring. Our colonial Governors did not send the minute information that was communicated to the French and American Governments by their officers. He had, therefore, been obliged to send to Washington for a document deposited in the Treasury Department there in order to obtain information which he could not procure in this country. That document he had received, and he certainly regarded it as a very extraordinary thing that more minute and reliable information could be obtained with reference to British North America from Washington than could be found in England. The person by whom the document was written was appointed by the American Government Consul-General for all British North America. Clothed with that authority he went to the Colonies, and was everywhere received with respect and cordiality. The Custom House Offices were thrown open to him; he visited every port and every headland and creek along the coast, and reported everything with great minuteness to the Secretary of the Treasury at Washington. The Report extended to about 1,000 pages, and was full of valuable information, both with respect to the fishing grounds and to the commerce of the country. It was just such a Report as our Colonial Governors should be compelled to send to this country. To his surprise he found in the document drawn up by this official—Mr. Andrews—the copy of a Report of a Committee of the National. Assembly of France on the deep-sea fisheries, in which they had a French opinion of that question, expressed by the Minister of Commerce and Marine. In this Report there occurred the following passage:— There was a time when France possessed all the principal fishing grounds in Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Prince Edward's Island, and Newfoundland. But the treaties of 1713, of 1763, of 1783, and finally of 1814, had reduced our possessions in those quarters to the two islets of St. Pierre and Miquilon—that is to say, to two sterile rocks—destitute of all resources, and on which we are forbidden to raise any fortifications. These treaties reserve to us the right of fishing along the coast of Newfoundland, but only at determined points and distances. We are only permitted to establish ourselves on the northern part of Newfoundland during a few months of the year, without constructing any permanent habitations. The country is uncultivated and savage. It would scarcely be credited after this that, instead of limiting themselves to the permissive rights belonging to them under the 1112 treaties, the French had assumed an arrogant demeanour towards the rest of the inhabitants, that they were laying claim to a great part of Newfoundland, and that they were driving out the inhabitants, the descendants of Irish families, who were obliged to quit their houses or have them burnt about their ears. They had presumed actually to hold courts-martial upon English fishermen, punishing them by taking away their nets, and committing other irregularities. In a letter which he had received from Capo Breton he was informed that fishing vessels putting into the harbour under stress of weather were fired on by the French and driven out to sea in a severe storm—fired on, it would be observed, from our own territory. This was a matter of the deepest importance. There were no fewer than 30,000 sailors there belonging to France, and, as there were 90,000 sailors inscribed on the books of France, it followed that one-third of the men from which the French navy could be manned were to be found in that distant territory. On this report of the French Minister, Mr. Andrews observed:— It will be seen that the cod caught and dried by the French will be introduced into the principal markets of the United States, with a bounty of two dollars per quintal, which is nearly equal to the value of our own fish. It must not be overlooked either that besides this excessive bounty on fish there is another of ten dollars for every man engaged in the fisheries, and a further bounty of 20f. per quintal metrique on cod oil, and an almost total exemption of duty on their salt. The views he bad formerly expressed to the House on this subject had been published in the Colonies, and he had received many letters thanking him for bringing it under the notice of Parliament and of the Government, and begging him to press it still further upon their attention. Mr. Andrews passed a high eulogy upon the sailors of British North America, which, as it might be gratifying to the noble Lord and furnish useful hints in their future legislation for the Colonies, he should like to read to the House. He had himself lived on the borders of the great Republic, without, however, acquiring the disposition of its citizens to boast, of which disposition lie wished to leave those gentlemen in exclusive possession. Mr. Andrews said:— England possesses no nursery for seamen at all equal to her North American colonial trade. Besides training her own hardy sons to the dangers and hardships of the sea, that trade fosters and raises up from among her active, well built, enduring, and intelligent subjects in the northern colonies as fine seamen as ever trod a deck, afraid 1113 of no danger, and perfectly fitted to sustain any reasonable amount of cold, hardship, and fatigue. The vigour of their frames, their sound constitutions, and the habit of facing severe cold, violent gales, and stormy seas in a high northern latitude, aided by quick perceptions and ready intelligence, eminently quality them to navigate her ships to any quarter of the world, either to uphold the honour of their country in fighting her battles upon the seas, or, bettor still, to extend and enlarge her commerce to every part of the habitable globe. To her colonial seamen England may well look with honest pride. It was natural that a citizen of the United States should put himself at the head of all creation. They said that "The English whipped all the world, and they whipped the English." So Mr. Andrews went on:— Save our own citizens they have few equals, and none others are their superiors. Whether in war or in peace these British North American sailors, cradled on a stormy deep," &c. The rest of the sentence he need not read to the House. They had heard much of the protection of the Colonies by this country. Our North American colonists were told that they were a great encumbrance and that it cost a great deal to protect them. If the Government wished to protect our Colonies, let them protect their fisheries, for they were the mainstay of these Colonies. People at home had talked so much of protecting the Colonies that, like other people who told marvellous stories, they began to believe it themselves. It was an amiable delusion; but let them, at all events, protect the North American fisheries. He trusted that the noble Lord would not allow the French, contrary to the stipulations of treaties, to erect fortifications at St. Pierre, when the people of the Colonies, at a great expenditure of blood and treasure, would try to drive them out; and drive them out they certainly would. He also wished to ask the noble Lord whether there would be any objection to lay upon the Table of the House Copies of all Questions submitted to the Law Officers of the Crown with regard to the French Fortifications of St. Pierre?