§ MR. MORTONI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has any official information as to the reported action of the French war vessels on the West Coast of Newfoundland, in preventing the sale of bait to American fishing vessels by the inhabitants of St. George's Bay; and whether such action is an infringement of the Treaty of 1818 with the United States?
§ SIR J. FERGUSSONA telegram has been received from the Governor of Newfoundland stating that a French officer is reported to have warned the inhabitants of St. George's Bay not to sell bait to United States fishermen, under penalty of seizure of their nets and boats. This does not appear to be a specific infraction of the Treaty of 1818 with the United States, which only secures to United States citizens 1387 the right of fishing on certain parts of the coast. But it constitutes, if correctly reported, an interference with the rights of British subjects, and an assumption of jurisdiction inconsistent with the Sovereign rights of the British Crown, and Her Majesty's Government have at once brought the matter under the notice of the French Government.