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Title: Saint-Pierre & Miquelon

Author: Comte de Premio-Real

Release Date: February 22, 2005 [EBook #15152]

Language: French

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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Premio-Real.

SAINT-PIERRE

&

MIQUELON.


LE CANADIEN.

QUBEC.




LES ILES

SAINT-PIERRE ET MIQUELON

       *       *       *       *       *

(Notes de la confrence donne  l'Institut Canadien, devant la
Socit Gographique de Qubec, le 29 avril 1880, par Son Excellence
le comte de Premio-Real, consul-gnral d'Espagne.)

_Traduit en anglais par Crawford Lindsay, premier traducteur anglais 
l'Assemble Lgislative du Qubec._


Combien d'hommes est-il en Europe, voire en Amrique, parmi ceux
mmes qui ont des prtentions  un certain savoir, combien, dis-je,
en est-il, qui ignorent jusqu'au nom de ces trois petites les perdues
sur les ctes de Terre-Neuve, ce colosse dont elles sont les humbles
satellites.

Combien de franais mme  qui leur nom est inconnu, ou dans l'esprit
desquels elles n'veillent qu'une ide vague, presque insaisissable,
pareille au lointain murmure des eaux de l'Ocan, arrivant presque
imperceptible aux oreilles du paysan qui habite l'intrieur.

Et cependant ces trois lots sont les paves d'un empire immense, qui
s'tendait jadis des terres polaires aux bouches du Mississipi, le
puissant pre des eaux. Elles formaient autrefois une partie infime
de ce vaste domaine que les fils de Saint Louis ont fcond de leurs
sueurs et de leur sang, mais qu'ils se sont laiss enlever, aprs
l'avoir ouvert  la civilisation, par un adversaire vigilant et
pratique.

Sur ces humbles rocs o flotte le drapeau tricolore, habite tout
un petit monde de pcheurs endurcis par l'pre haleine des bises
glaciales du ple. Ce petit coin de terre qui semble au premier abord
ne pouvoir tre habit, voit fourmiller autour de lui une richesse
naturelle intarissable, je veux dire ces bancs de morues et de harengs
plus prcieux que l'argent et l'or, et qui ont donn  un petit pays,
la Hollande, l'existence d'abord, l'opulence ensuite, la puissance
enfin  un certain moment de son histoire.

Qu'on ne soit donc point surpris du ton lyrique de ce dbut. Les les
Saint-Pierre et Miquelon ont vu passer tous les navigateurs clbres
qui ont dcouvert ou explor le Canada. C'est de leurs eaux que la
France tire une partie importante de son alimentation. C'est vers
leurs ports que l'Espagne envoie tous les ans des quantits normes de
sel pour conserver les dons prcieux de la mer. C'est l que, dans la
belle saison, des centaines de navires et de bateaux, et des milliers
de pcheurs franais vont rcolter pour leur patrie une moisson
toujours abondante, et se former au rude mtier de matelot.

Qu'importe, aprs cela, que la moiti de l'anne, ces rivages soient
ensevelis sous la neige ou envelopps dans d'pais brouillards;
qu'importe qu'ils soient battus par les puissantes vagues de ce
terrible Ocan du Nord qui viennent, en mugissant, les inonder de
leurs eaux verdtres charges d'algues et de dbris de toute espce,
et semblent vouloir, dans leurs terribles convulsions, les effacer de
la carte du monde.

La vie est assure l non seulement pour ceux qui y habitent, mais
encore pour des milliers et des milliers de cratures vivant par del
l'Atlantique. La mer, cette rude nourricire, ouvre l ses flancs
profonds  tous ceux qui ne craignent pas le balancement de ses ondes
toujours mobiles.

Il n'y a point l de ces misres affreuses, ni de ces existences
consumes par la faim, comme il s'en trouve dans les grands centres
populeux, au milieu de toutes les ressources de la civilisation.

Les vigoureux pcheurs, bistrs par le vent de la mer, n'y ont jamais
la famine  craindre. Une manne incessamment renouvele monte vers eux
des profondeurs de l'abme. On dirait que Dieu a voulu faire
clater sa puissance et montrer  l'homme la vanit des richesses de
convention, en faisant pulluler la vie et les trsors naturels dans
ces parages qui, au premier aspect, ne semblent pouvoir abriter que la
misre et la mort....

       *       *       *       *       *

Malgr les considrations contenues dans ce qui prcde, le choix de
mon sujet a pu vous surprendre. C'est  vous, que, nagure, le savant
professeur Bell faisait part de ses explorations personnelles, sur un
champ aussi grandiose que la baie d'Hudson et ses environs. N'tait-ce
pas abuser de votre complaisance de venir vous parler de trois
petites les qui, physiquement, n'offrent rien d'extraordinaire? Mais
j'prouve pour elles un sentiment d'affection tout particulier. Cela
ne proviendrait-il pas prcisment de leur petitesse? Le Canada avec
ses champs sans limites m'inspire un sentiment d'admiration. Mais il
est plus facile de concentrer son affection sur un objet d'tendue
restreinte que l'esprit peut, pour ainsi dire, embrasser sans effort.
Le clbre Burke dans son ouvrage sur le sublime et sur le beau:
"_On the sublime and beautiful_" fait remarquer que, gnralement,
l'admiration se porte sur des objets grands ou terribles, l'amour sur
des objets relativement petits et agrables.

Comme je l'ai dit, les les Saint-Pierre et Miquelon sont tout ce
qui reste  la France d'un empire qui comprenait les possessions
britanniques actuelles de l'Amrique du Nord et la valle du
Mississipi, c'est -dire la moiti du continent Nord Amricain. Les
fleurs de lys durent successivement se retirer de Terre-Neuve en 1713,
du Cap-Breton et de l'le du Prince-Edouard en 1745, du Canada et
de la Nouvelle-cosse en 1763 ainsi que du territoire  l'Ouest du
Mississipi, et le lopard britannique ne laissa  la vieille monarchie
franaise que le droit de pche sur les ctes de Terre-Neuve et les
les Saint-Pierre et Miquelon.

Elles sont situes  l'entre de Fortune Bay, golfe qui s'enfonce
profondment dans la cte sud de _Newfoundland_,  proximit du banc
de Saint-Pierre frquent par les morues, et non loin du grand banc
de Terre-Neuve. Une distance de 135 milles les spare du cap Ray et
du cap Race qui forment respectivement les extrmits Sud-Ouest et
Sud-est de la terre des Bacalaos, comme on l'appelle en Espagnol.

Elles se trouvent  6470 kilomtres de Brest, le point le plus
rapproch de la mre patrie. Suivant le gographe franais Onsyme
Reclus, les les Saint-Pierre et Miquelon ont une superficie de 21,000
hectares et une population sdentaire de 3000 habitants. Il y a
de cela 2 ou 3 lustres. Mais actuellement, suivant mon intelligent
subordonn aux dites les, elle s'lve  5000 mes. Le petit archipel
se compose, au Nord, de la grande-Miquelon, sise par 47 4' de
latitude Nord et 56 20' de longitude Ouest, au Sud, de la petite
Miquelon ou Langlade et au Sud-Est de cette dernire, de Saint-Pierre,
beaucoup plus petite, mais trois fois plus peuple que les
prcdentes.

Il est presque superflu de mentionner quelques lots insignifiants,
simples rochers de granit sans vgtation et sans habitants. La grande
Miquelon et la petite sont, depuis 1783, runies par une langue de
sable.

Saint-Pierre renferme le chef-lieu du mme nom, rsidence du
gouverneur de tout l'archipel. Cette modeste capitale a pour horizon
des collines basses portant un bois de rsineux lilliputiens dont la
cime arrive  peine  l'paule d'un enfant. Dans la saison commerciale
la population flottante de pcheurs et de marins venus de France
et d'autres pays y surpasse de beaucoup le nombre des rsidents.
Le mouvement des navires, la pche, la salaison, donnent alors une
prodigieuse animation  ces pauvres les au sol indigent, au climat
dur, mais trs sain.

Les cultures de Saint-Pierre et Miquelon ont peu d'tendue; quelques
pommes de terre, des choux, un peu de foin, voil tout ce que le
regard de l'agronome pourrait y dcouvrir. La vgtation y est
gnralement chtive. Las hauteurs atteignent 500 pieds en certains
endroits. Les parties basses abondent en tangs et en marais. En somme
la pche est l'occupation principale, sinon exclusive, des habitants.
Vu la raret du bois, on y brle surtout du charbon qui vient
principalement de la Nouvelle Ecosse et du Cap Breton. Le climat
ressemble beaucoup  celui des ports du golfe Saint-Laurent. Les ctes
sont souvent couvertes d'pais brouillards qui s'lvent soudain et
persistent durant plusieurs jours. St. Pierre, au Nord-Est de l'le du
mme nom, possde un excellent port qui peut contenir un grand nombre
de navires, et leur assurer un trs bon mouillage. On y voit jusqu'
60 btiments pcheurs  la fois. Les autres anses de l'archipel
n'offrent ni les mmes avantages ni la mme scurit. Lorsque certains
vents soufflent, les navires qui y ont jet l'ancre, sont souvent
obligs de prendre la haute-mer, pour viter d'tre briss contre le
roc par les pousses formidables de la tempte.

Comme conclusion  ces quelques donnes sur les les Saint-Pierre
et Miquelon, je dirai que la nature semble les avoir spcialement
destines  tre d'excellentes stations de pche.

       *       *       *       *       *

Les flots qui environnent les les Saint-Pierre et Miquelon reclent
un grand nombre de poissons d'espces diffrentes. Le hareng s'y
montre quelquefois en colonnes profondes, mais comme les pcheurs
franais qui exploitent ces parages s'attachent presque exclusivement
 la morue, je ne m'occuperai en dtail que de cette dernire.

Les naturalistes l'appellent _gadus morrhua_; ses principaux
caractres sont trois nageoires dorsales, deux anales et un barbillon,
bouquet de filaments attach  la mchoire infrieure. C'est un
poisson malacoptrygien, c'est--dire  nageoires molles. On en
distingue plusieurs espces. La plus commune est la morue franche,
qu'on appelle aussi cabillaud ou cabliau quand elle est frache. Sa
longueur varie de soixante-dix centimtres  un mtre. Une tte grosse
et comprime, une bouche norme, des yeux trs gros  fleur de tte et
voils par une membrane transparente, une cuirasse d'cailles grises
sur le dos et blanches sous le ventre avec des taches dores, des
nageoires jaunes et grises, tels sont les principaux caractres
extrieurs de cet habitant des mers. Joignez-y des dents simplement
implantes dans les chairs et susceptibles de se mouvoir  la
volont de l'animal, un estomac trs volumineux et trs vorace et
une prodigieuse fcondit, et vous pourrez vous faire une ide des
hcatombes de petits poissons que la morue engloutit avant d'tre
elle-mme la proie de ce terrible destructeur, de cet omnivore qu'on
appelle l'homme.

La morue atteint quelquefois un poids de cent livres; mais petite
ou grande, pesante ou lgre, elle est toujours pour les humains une
ressource prcieuse, une nourriture des plus saines. J'ai parl tout
 l'heure de sa fcondit. Jugez plutt: les femelles portent de 4 
8 millions d'oeufs dans leurs flancs; quel rve de romancier peut se
comparer  cette ralit vivante. Un de ces savants qui ne respectent
rien et qui forcent la nature  leur dvoiler ses arcanes les plus
mystrieux, value  150,000,000 le nombre des animacules contenus
dans la laite d'une seule morue mle. Cette espce est rpandue
dans toutes les mers septentrionales de l'Europe et de l'Amrique, 
l'entre de la Manche, en Irlande. Sur les ctes de l'Irlande, de la
Sude, de la Norwge, de l'Ecosse, elle donne lieu  une exploitation
importante, mais c'est sur les bancs de Terre-Neuve ou aux environs
que cette pche se fait tout--fait en grand.

La saison favorable s'tend de fvrier  novembre. Au grand banc de
Terre-Neuve, elle commence en mai. Aprs avoir pris les morues, on les
sale ou on les fait scher. Dans le premier cas on les ventre, et on
leur te le foie ou les oeufs aprs avoir coup la tte et la langue
que l'on met  part. Elles portent alors le nom de morues vertes. Il
est essentiel d'avoir  bord un homme qui ouvre le poisson et coupe
la tte avec habilet. On appelle morues blanches celles qui ont t
sales, mais sches promptement, et sur lesquelles le sel a laiss
une sorte de crote blanchtre. Pour achever le schage on les expose
au soleil et ensuite  la fume; ces dernires prennent le nom de
morues sches ou pares; on les confond aussi fort souvent sous le
nom de merluche avec le merlan prpar de la mme manire sur les
ctes de Provence. La pche de la morue se fait soit sur les rivages
rocheux, soit sur des bancs de sable o les plus grosses sont prises 
des profondeurs variant de 25  50 toises.

Quant aux origines de la pche  la morue, il est impossible de les
assigner d'une faon exacte. Quelques uns voudraient en faire honneur
au Portugais Gaspard de Cortereal, au commencement du 16e sicle: mais
on pense avec beaucoup plus de raison que les pcheurs Basques, en
poursuivant les baleines, dcouvrirent le grand et le petit banc de
Terre-Neuve, un sicle avant l'expdition de Christophe Colomb. Ces
hardis pcheurs avaient explor les ctes du Canada et connaissaient
 coup sr Terre-Neuve, la terre des Bacalaos, comme il l'avaient
appele, avant que le grand navigateur gnois et fait bouillonner la
mer des Antilles sous la proue d'un navire europen. Les Hollandais et
les Anglais paraissent aussi s'tre livrs  la pche de la morue,
ds le 14ime sicle, les derniers sur les ctes d'Islande; et les
pcheurs de la Rochelle et de la Bretagne avaient jet leurs
lignes dans les eaux du golfe Saint-Laurent, longtemps avant que
Jacques-Cartier et fait voir aux hurons de Stadacona l'tendard aux
fleurs de lis d'or....

       *       *       *       *       *

On peut pcher la morue de diffrentes manires, avec des lignes
ordinaires, des lignes de fond et des seines, filets d'une grande
dimension. Mais le premier de ces moyens, tout en donnant de trs
beaux rsultats, est prfrable au point de vue de l'avenir des
pcheries. Bien des faits le prouvent surabondamment. Quelle que soit
la fcondit de la morue, l'avidit aveugle de l'homme parviendrait,
sinon  dtruire l'espce, du moins  rendre son exploitation
insignifiante, si une sage lgislation ne venait par des dispositions
prvoyantes, mettre obstacle  la cupidit insatiable de ceux qui ne
considrent que le prsent. Il est un fait bien connu dans ce pays-ci,
c'est que les pcheurs des tats-Unis, aprs avoir dilapid comme des
prodigues leurs propres pcheries de morues, seraient parvenus  en
faire autant pour celles du Canada, si on n'y avait mis bon ordre.
Comment voulez-vous qu'il en ft autrement avec des bateaux de pche
portant 4  6 lignes de fond, dont chacune avait 1000 hameons. Les
gens des tats-Unis ont ainsi dtruit plusieurs espces dans les eaux
canadiennes. Comme il appert par le fameux discours prononc le 3 mai
1879,  la Chambre des Communes d'Ottawa, par l'Honorable M. Pierre
Fortin, dput de Gasp,--le premier qui ait prsid cette socit
de gographie et que j'ai l'honneur de compter au nombre de mes amis
personnels,--avec ces lignes de fond qui n'en finissent pas, on
tue les poissons femelles. L'usage de la seine n'est pas moins
prjudiciable, car on prend avec les gros reprsentants de l'espce
une masse de fretin qu'on est oblig de rejeter  la mer, o ces
dbris vont souvent empoisonner les eaux, ou fournir aux poissons qui
s'y trouvent une nourriture tellement abondante qu'ils ne mordent plus
pour longtemps aux appts employs par les pcheurs consciencieux.

       *       *       *       *       *

La chair des morues n'est pas la seule partie dont on fasse usage.
Sans parler d'autres choses, on tire de leur foie cette huile clbre
qui est si utile  certains mtiers.

L'huile de foie de morue est fournie principalement par la morue
proprement dite, _gadus morrhua_ dont nous avons dj parl. Outre
Terre-Neuve, les principaux lieux de fabrication sont Dieppe,
Dunkerque, Ostende, l'Angleterre, la Hollande, les les Loffoden. Les
procds de prparation varient et fournissent des huiles de qualits
diffrentes. Ces procds peuvent tre ramens  deux principaux:
1. la prparation  l'aide de la putrfaction et de la chaleur, soit
solaire, soit artificielle; 2. la prparation,  l'aide de la chaleur
artificielle exclusivement. A Terre-Neuve, les foies extraits des
poissons sont entasss dans de grandes cuves au fond desquelles se
trouvent plusieurs ouvertures, lesquelles servent  laisser couler
l'huile qui se produit ainsi que le sang et le srum, dans d'autres
cuves places immdiatement au-dessous. On recueille ensuite l'huile
qui surnage dans de grands barils.

On compte cinq varits d'huile de foie de morue: 1. la blonde; 2. la
brune; 3. la noire; 4. la ple; 5. l'huile vert-dor. La premire est
d'un jaune d'or, d'une odeur trs faible, d'une saveur d'abord douce,
ensuite plus ou moins excitante. La seconde est de couleur d'ocre
brune, d'une forte odeur de poisson analogue  celle du hareng
sal, et d'une saveur de poisson, qui imprime au palais un sentiment
d'pret. La troisime est d'un brun tirant sur le noir, d'une odeur
nausabonde, d'une saveur amre et empyreumatique. La quatrime est
d'une couleur jauntre, d'une saveur et d'une odeur peu marques. La
cinquime est limpide, couleur vert-dor, douce au got et  l'odorat.
L'huile normale de foie de morue est celle qui est prpare avec des
foies parfaitement frais,  une chaleur douce et sche,  l'abri du
contact de l'air, dans des vases de verre ou de porcelaine. D'aprs
les chimistes Delattre, Girardin et Rigel, voici la composition de
cette huile:

       Oline                                      988.700
       Margarine et gaduine                          8.760
       Chlore                                        1.122
       Iode                                          0.327
       Brme                                         0.043
       Phosphore                                     0.203
       Soufre                                        0.201
       Acide phosphorique                            0.108
       Acide sulfurique                              0.236
       Perte                                         0.300
                                                     -----
                Total                            1,000,000

L'huile de foie de morue est sujette  de nombreuses falsifications.
Les huiles qu'on lui substitue le plus frquemment sont celle de
poisson pure, seule ou associe  l'iode ou  des iodures, celle
de foie de morue elle-mme, mlange avec de l'huile ordinaire de
poisson, avec de l'huile d'olive ou de pavot, et mme quelquefois
avec de l'huile de colza. Les chimistes ont cherch en vain des moyens
propres  faire connatre ces divers genres d'adultration, ou du
moins ils ont abouti  des rsultats diffrents qui n'ont pas la
certitude scientifique dsirable. Le seul fait srieux auquel on soit
arriv est de pouvoir constater la prsence ou l'absence de l'huile
de foie de morue dans une huile quelconque. Le ractif employ est
l'acide sulfurique concentr. Si l'on en verse quelques gouttes sur
une petite quantit d'huile de foie de morue, dpose sur un morceau
de verre plac sur du papier blanc, on remarque la formation d'une
aurole violette, qui passe bientt au cramoisi, puis, au bout de
quelques minutes, au brun.

Il y en a qui voient dans l'iode le principe actif de cet agent
thrapeutique, et c'est la quantit plus ou moins grande de ce dernier
principe qui  quelques-uns fait prfrer une varit  une autre.

L'huile de foie de morue s'emploie en mdecine dans toutes sortes
de maladies, les affections scrofuleuses et tuberculeuses, le
ramollissement des os, le rhumatisme et la goutte, les affections du
systme nerveux, etc., etc.

Quant  la thorie de l'action thrapeutique de ce puissant agent
mdical, elle n'est pas de mon ressort.

Le corroyeur et le chamoiseur font usage de l'huile de foie de morue,
pour donner aux cuirs de la souplesse et du brillant.

Les succdans de l'huile de foie de morue ou substances qui ont les
mmes proprits mdicales sont nombreux; on les emprunte aux
ctacs, aux poissons, aux amphibies, aux mammifres, aux oiseaux, aux
reptiles, aux crustacs, aux insectes et mme au rgne vgtal. Pour
ne citer que les plus connus, je nommerai: l'huile de foie de raie,
celle de requin; celle de hareng; les huiles de baleines et de phoque;
le lait, le suif, l'huile de pied de boeuf et de veau; le jaune
d'oeuf; la graisse de serpent; le bouillon d'crevisse; les huiles
d'oeillette, de lin, de noyer, d'amandes douces, etc., etc. Je laisse
aux Hippocrates prsents ou futurs le soin de dcider du degr de
confiance qu'il faut accorder  ces divers substituants de l'huile
de foie de morue, et je leur cde la place avec la douce satisfaction
d'un homme qui n'a jamais prouv le besoin de recourir ni  cette
glorieuse substance, ni  ses succdans.

       *       *       *       *       *

J'ai dit que la France tire des les Saint-Pierre et Miquelon la plus
grande partie de la morue qu'elle consomme.

Pour s'expliquer l'affluence des pcheurs franais dans ces eaux
lointaines, il faut avoir une ide des profits qu'on peut en retirer.
Il me suffira d'en citer deux exemples. On a vu des hommes prendre sur
les bancs de Terre-Neuve de 400  550 morues dans 10 ou 11 heures. Une
fois, 8 hommes en ont pris dans leur journe de pche 80 vingtaines
sur le Dogger Bank.

D'ailleurs il existe un autre stimulant. Le gouvernement franais qui
a, ds l'origine, compris la haute importance de ces pches, donne
 chaque btiment pcheur une prime d'encouragement au prorata de sa
prise. Ces primes, sont de quinze, seize et vingt francs par quintal
mtrique, suivant les destinations. En outre chaque bateau pcheur
reoit cinquante francs par homme d'quipage, pour la pche, avec
scherie, soit  la cte de Terre-Neuve, soit  Saint-Pierre et
Miquelon, soit sur le grand banc de Terre-Neuve. D'ailleurs les
navires engags qui ont un peu de chance peuvent faire plus d'un
voyage en Europe dans la mme saison, puisqu'elle commence en mai et
finit en novembre.

La partie de la mer rserve aux pcheurs franais est trs tendue.
Vers le nord, elle s'tend jusqu' 3 milles des ctes de Terre-Neuve.

La valeur annuelle moyenne de toutes les pcheries franaises est de
L 3,500,000, soit  raison de 25 francs par livre sterling, 87,500,000
francs. En 1876, leurs produits ont reprsent la somme de 88,990,591
francs, soit environ de 16 millions de dollars. 21,263 vaisseaux ou
bateaux de pche, monts par 79,676 hommes, taient employs sur les
diffrentes pcheries.

La capture de morue dans la colonie de Saint-Pierre et Miquelon,
suivant les rapports officiels, a t en moyenne, pour les cinq annes
finissant en 1871, de 15,425,086 kilogrammes. Les mmes rapports
montrent que pour les cinq annes finissant en 1874, le nombre moyen
des navires employs tait de 76 et celui des bateaux de 590, jaugeant
tous ensemble 12,386 tonneaux et monts par 5,335 pcheurs.

La France pche 25,000,000 de kilogrammes de morue par an et souvent
plus. Plus des trois cinquimes, quelquefois les quatre cinquimes
viennent des eaux de Saint-Pierre et Miquelon. Et n'allez pas croire
que cette proportion date d'hier. Si je remonte  l'anne 1863, je
trouve 25,349,681 kilogrammes de morue reprsentant une valeur de
12,281,073 francs imports en France. En 1864 il y a augmentation et
la pche du mme poisson donne 27,795,392 kilogrammes reprsentant une
valeur de 19,733,700 francs.

Ajoutons en terminant que les franais prennent dans les mers
d'Islande plus de poisson que les Islandais eux-mmes, et emportent
chaque anne en France pour une valeur de 270,000 ou 6,750,000 francs
de morue. Ils ont une flotte de 290 vaisseaux monts par 4,400 hommes,
chaque bateau jaugeant en moyenne 90 tonneaux.

Les pcheurs des mers d'Islande aussi bien que ceux de Terre-Neuve
reoivent des primes d'encouragement. Vous voyez, Mesdames et
Messieurs, qu'un pays place bien l'argent qu'il emploie  dvelopper
une industrie de ce genre, et je ne considre ici que le profit
pcuniaire. Mais il ne faut pas oublier que la pche dveloppe les
aptitudes maritimes de l'homme des ctes et le prpare, par son rude
apprentissage,  faire un excellent marin de guerre.

       *       *       *       *       *

On a cherch depuis quelques annes  contester en Angleterre et au
Canada mme les droits de la France aux pcheries de Terre-Neuve.
Mais l'examen des diffrents traits intervenus entre la France et
l'Angleterre dmontre le bien fond des droits de la premire, droits
qu'elle n'a cess de revendiquer en toute occasion avec la mme
persistance. Le trait d'Utrecht de 1713 fora Sa Majest trs
chrtienne  cder aux Anglais Terre-Neuve, mais confirma en sa faveur
le droit de pche sur les ctes et dans les baies de cette le.

Le trait d'Utrecht fut confirm; en ce qui concernait les pcheries,
par l'article 5 du trait de Paris de 1763, dont l'article VI concde
en outre  la France les les Saint-Pierre et Miquelon comme abri pour
les pcheurs franais (to serve as a shelter to the French fishermen).

Une brochure publie en 1876  Qubec et intitule les Pcheries de
Terre-Neuve, porte en sous-titre: "Droits de la France exposs
en rponse aux assertions de l'Institut Colonial." Cet opuscule
parfaitement rdig prouve en effet d'une manire victorieuse les
droits de la France.

La convention de 1857 tmoigne que l'Angleterre, par l'organe de son
gouvernement et de ses ngociations officiels, a reconnu comme fondes
les prtentions de la France.

       *       *       *       *       *

CLEF.

_Pour servir  l'tude de l'historique du droit de pche dans les eaux
de Saint-Pierre et Miquelon_.

Les traits, et les articles de ces traits, sur lesquels la France
fonde ses prtentions, se suivent ainsi:

    Trait d'Utrecht, 1713--Art. 13.
    Trait de Paris, 1763--Art. 5.
    Trait de Versailles, 1783--Art. 4, 5, 6.
    Trait d'Amiens, 1802--Art. 15.
    Trait de Paris, 1814--Art. 8 et 13
    Trait de Paris, 1815--Art. 11.

La grande difficult dans la question des pcheries est de savoir si
les Franais ont un droit de pche exclusif sur la partie des ctes de
Terre-Neuve qui leur a t assigne par les traits.

Mon rle m'obligeant  la plus stricte impartialit, je donne
ci-dessous les articles qui servent de base  l'opposition faite aux
prtentions de la France par l'Institut colonial britannique;

    Trait de 1783--Art. 3.
    Convention de 1818 entre la Grande Bretagne et les tats-Unis.

       *       *       *       *       *

Je ne parlerai pas des usages les plus ordinaires du sel, ou l'utilit
de ce condiment indispensable pour la conservation des substances
alimentaires. Je ne veux pas m'tendre sur les applications
industrielles du sel qui sert  fabriquer la soude artificielle,
 prparer le chlore et le sel ammoniac,  vernir certaines terres
cuites. Je me garderai aussi de me plonger dans les tnbres du pass,
pour vous faire apprcier l'emploi du sel dans le culte. Chez les
juifs, chez les paens, on s'en servait dans les sacrifices pour
purifier et consacrer la victime. L'eau lustrale tait sale, comme
l'est encore l'eau bnite de nos jours, ce qui prouve bien, comme
disait le roi Salomon, qu'il n'est rien de nouveau sous le soleil.
Mais il est un sujet de la plus haute importance pour ce pays mme,
que je ne puis laisser passer sans vous en dire quelques mots; je veux
parler du rle du sel dans l'agriculture. Mlang avec une certaine
proportion de suie, il opre comme un amendement sur les terres
arables et excite la fertilit de celles qui sont incultes. Il
prsente un remde efficace contre la carie. Ml aux semences, il
les prserve des attaques des insectes. Il favorise la vgtation
des graines huileuses et en particulier du lin,--de ce lin qui sert 
fabriquer quelques uns des fins tissus.

Le sel augmente aussi le produit des pturages et des prairies;
il amliore la qualit du foin, rend les fourrages grossiers plus
nourrissants et les aliments humides moins nuisibles aux btes  corne
et aux chevaux. Il prserve les bestiaux des maladies, rend leur
chair beaucoup plus agrable, et augmente la quantit du lait chez les
vaches et les chvres. Mais de plus, le sel employ comme amendement
peut modifier le climat. Oyez et coutez ce que je vais vous dire.
Il dpend de vous habitants du Canada, d'lever la temprature de vos
rives, et d'accourcir vos hivers. Non point que je vous promette le
ciel de l'Andalousie. Les effets du chlorure de sodium ne vont point
jusque-l. Mais srieusement parlant, vous pourriez rendre la froidure
un peu moins pre, et voici comment: Il est des sols qui absorbent le
sel et qui sont chauffs par cette substance. Mais il en est d'autres
qui ne l'absorbent pas compltement; le sel, entran par les eaux de
pluie, va se mler aux flots tumultueux des rivires et aux paisibles
ondes des lacs, et au bout d'un certain nombre d'annes, lorsqu'il
est en assez grande quantit, il empche ou retarde la conglation de
l'lment liquide. Or, il faut avouer que toutes ces surfaces aqueuses
solidifies par les frimas et qui maillent le beau Canada, sont de
fameuses glacires qui ne contribuent pas peu  faire descendre le
thermomtre  40 au-dessous de zro.

Enfin, le sel, c'est bien su, est trs rpandu dans la nature, soit en
couches plus ou moins considrables dans le sein de la terre (ce qu'on
appelle le sel gemme) soit en dissolution dans les eaux de la mer,
de certains lacs et de certaines fontaines. En Espagne l'Aragon et la
Catalogne renferment des gisements considrables de sel gemme. L'eau
de la mer contient environ 3% de sel marin qu'on en retire en exposant
l'eau  l'vaporation dans de vastes bassins creuss sur les bords de
la mer, et qu'on appelle marais salants. En gnral, ils se composent:
1 d'un vaste rservoir dit _jas_, plac en avant des marais
proprement dits, plus profond qu'eux et communiquant avec la mer
par un canal ferm d'une cluse. On le remplit  mare haute. Il est
destin  conserver l'eau, afin qu'elle dpose ses impurets, et 
remplacer l'eau des autres bassins  mesure qu'elle s'vapore; 2 du
_marais_ proprement dit ou _salin_, situ derrire le jas et divis
en une multitude de compartiments spars par de petites chausses,
destines  multiplier les surfaces pour augmenter l'vaporation, et
 recevoir des eaux de plus en plus concentres; ces compartiments
communiquent entre eux, mais de manire que l'eau n'arrive d'une case
 une autre qu'aprs avoir parcouru une longue suite de canaux.

On juge que le sel va bientt cristaliser quand l'eau commence 
rougir; elle se couvre peu aprs d'une pellicule de sel qui coule
au fond. On retire le sel sur les petites chausss qui sparent les
cases, et l il commence  s'goutter. On rpte cette rcolte deux ou
trois fois par semaine, depuis le mois de mai jusqu'au mois d'octobre.

Cette substance reprsente la vie d'un grand nombre d'hommes, et mes
compatriotes y figurent pour une proportion trs notable.

Le sel est le principal article de commerce entre l'Espagne et les
les Saint-Pierre et Miquelon.

       *       *       *       *       *

Ici le confrencier donne des dtails sur les sujets suivants:

    Commerce des les Saint-Pierre et Miquelon avec l'Espagne et la France.

    Commerce avec le Canada et avec Terre-Neuve.

    Nature et valeur des produits exports  Saint-Pierre et Miquelon par
    chaque province du Canada, notamment par celle de Qubec.

    Navigation.

Puis il termine en disant:

J'ai pens que vous ne seriez pas fchs d'entendre parler de ce coin
de terre, dernier dbris de la splendeur franaise dans l'Amrique du
Nord; et puis, comme le dit si loquemment mon noble ami Lord Dufferin
en parlant de l'Islande, dans ses "Lettres de hautes latitudes,"
traduites en franais par votre compatriote M. Bdard, le modeste
archipel dont je vous ai entretenu "partage avec la puissance du
Canada la mme aurore aux teintes vermeilles, et, pendant l'hiver, est
envelopp dans le mme blanc manteau." Pour vous Canadiens-franais en
particulier, le sujet n'tait pas tout--fait dpourvu d'intrt. Vos
pres avant d'aborder sur les rives du Saint-Laurent, ont tous pass 
proximit des rocs des les Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, et on les aurait
bien tonns alors, si on leur et dit qu'elles seraient un jour
les dernires et uniques sentinelles de la mre-patrie dans ces eaux
sillonnes par tous les preux qui ont fond le Canada franais ou
l'ont dfendu, les Cartier, les Champlain, les d'Iberville, etc., etc.
_Sic transit gloria mundi_. Ainsi passent les gloires de ce monde.
Mais une autre conqute n'a point arrt dans leur essor les germes
fconds qui portaient en eux une nombreuse postrit. Les 60,000
colons jets dans ce pays par la France se sont multiplis comme 
miracle, et tout donne lieu de croire qu'elle sera reprsente un jour
sur cette terre amricaine par un grand peuple qui parlera sa langue,
et sera fier de se rattacher  elle par ses origines.

Et comment pourrait-il en tre autrement! Jamais plus noble berceau
ne fut offert  une jeune nationalit. Comment dcrire ce fleuve
majestueux, ces forts solennelles, ces sites grandioses qui font du
Canada un des beaux pays du monde! Vos hivers sont rudes, mais ils ne
peuvent que dvelopper des corps vigoureux insensibles aux intempries
de l'air. Les nappes blouissantes de vos neiges ne contiennent pas de
miasmes funestes  la sant, et dans vos larges campagnes, les poumons
peuvent aspirer librement l'air le plus pur qui soit sous le soleil.
En t, une vgtation touffue, au feuillage luxuriant, savoureux pour
ainsi dire, verse  votre poitrine l'oxygne  pleins flots, tandis
que les arbres rsineux envoient, dans toutes les directions leurs
senteurs salutaires.

D'immenses terrains, propices  la culture, n'attendent que des
mains diligentes pour rendre au centuple ce qu'on leur aura prt.
Dveloppez-vous donc, jeune rameau de la grande race latine;
panouissez-vous sur cette terre aux horizons immenses, et devenez
 votre tour un arbre puissant aux racines plonges dans un pass
glorieux,  la cime sa projetant vers un lumineux avenir.




THE ISLANDS

OF

SAINT-PIERRE AND MIQUELON.


       *       *       *       *       *

(Notes of a lecture given at the _Institut Canadien_, before the
Quebec Geographical Society on the 29th April, 1880, by His Excellency
the Count of Premio-Real, Consul General for Spain.)

_Translated by Crawford Lindsay, chief English Translator, Legislative
Assembly, Quebec._


How many persons in Europe and in America, even amongst those who lay
claim to a certain amount of knowledge, are ignorant of the very names
of those little islands, lost to sight on the coast of New-Foundland,
that colossus of which they are the humble attendants.

How many Frenchmen are there to whom their name is unknown, and in
whose minds they give rise but to vague and hardly realized ideas:
like unto the distant murmur of ocean waves which barely reaches the
ears of those who dwell away from the sea-shore.

And yet these islets are the wreck of an immense empire, which once
stretched from the Polar regions to the mouths of the Mississipi, the
great Father of Waters. They once formed but an infinitesimal portion
of that vast domain, which the sons of St. Louis made fruitful with
their labor and hallowed with their blood but which, after having
opened up to civilization, they allowed to be taken from them by a
vigilant and practical adversary.

These humble rocks under the shadow of the tri-color are inhabited by
quite a little world of fishermen rendered hardy by the icy breath
of Arctic breezes. This little corner of the world, which, at first
sight, would be deemed unfit for habitation is surrounded with
inexhaustible natural riches, by shoals of cod and herring, more
precious than mines of silver and gold, such as those which endowed
a small country, Holland, in the first place with the means of
existence, then with wealth and finally, during a certain period of
its history, with power.

The flowery style of this introduction should not surprise any one.
Before the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, have passed all the
celebrated navigators who discovered or explored Canada. From their
waters France derives an important portion of its food supply.
To their ports Spain yearly sends enormous quantities of salt for
preserving the precious gifts of the sea. In their waters, during the
proper season, hundreds of vessels and fishing-boats and thousands of
French fishermen repair for the double purpose of collecting an ever
abundant harvest for their country and of training themselves in the
arduous duties of a sailor's life.

When we consider all this, what matters it that during one-half of
the year their shores are buried in snow or hidden in dense fogs;
what matters it that they are beaten by the thundering waves of that
terrible Northern Ocean whose green waters, laden with sea-weed and
wreckage of every kind, dash upon them and seem, in their wild fury,
to desire to wash them off the map of the world?

A livelihood is there provided, not only for the inhabitants, but also
for thousands and thousands who live beyond the Atlantic. The sea,
that rough foster-mother opens its bosom to all who fear not the never
ceasing motion of its waters.

There, are to be found none of those dreadful cases of hardship, those
famine-stricken creatures which exist in large centres of population,
in the very midst of all the resources of civilization.

The hardy and weather beaten seamen, have never any cause to dread
famine. A constantly renewed manna is ever rising from the depths of
the sea. It would seem as if God wished to show his power and point
out to man the vanity of worldly wealth by causing life and natural
riches to teem along these shores which, at first sight, seem devoted
but to misery and death.

       *       *       *       *       *

Notwithstanding the above considerations, the choice of my subject may
have surprised you. Not long ago Professor Bell came before you and
related his personal experiences, his explorations of a field so vast
and grand as Hudson's Bay and its neighborhood, and it seems like an
abuse of your good nature to come and speak of three little islands
which, from a physical point of view, have no extraordinary interest.
But I have a special affection for them, which may perhaps be due to
the smallness of their dimensions. Canada, with its unlimited
extent, inspires me with a feeling of admiration. But it is easier
to concentrate our affection on a smaller object which the mind can
embrace without effort. Burke in his celebrated work "On the sublime
and beautiful" points out that, as a rule, objects of a grand
or terrible nature excite admiration, whilst those which are
comparatively small and pleasant, give rise to love.

As I have already stated, the Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon are
all that remain to France of an empire which comprised the present
British Possessions in North America and the Valley of the Mississipi
or, in other words, one-half of the North American Continent. The
_fleurs-de-lys_ had to withdraw successively from New-Foundland in
1713, from Cap Breton and Prince Edward's Island in 1745, from Canada
and Nova Scotia in 1763, as well as from the territory to the west of
the Mississipi and the British Lion left to the old French monarchy
only the right to fish on the coast of New Foundland, with the Islands
of St. Pierre and Miquelon.

These islands are situated at the entrance of Fortune Bay which
extends to a great depth into the southern coast of New Foundland,
near the bank of St. Pierre which is frequented by cod-fish and not
far from the Grand Banks of New-Foundland. They are distant 135 miles
from Cape Ray and Cape Race, which respectively form the south-western
and south-eastern extremities of what the Spaniards call the land of
the Bacalaos.

They are 6,470 kilometres from Brest the nearest point in the mother
country. According to the French geographer, Onezime Reclus, the
Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon have a superficial area of 21,000
hectares and a resident population of 3,000 inhabitants. That, was 10
or 15 years ago. But, at present, according to the report of my able
subordinate in those islands, the population amounts to 5,000 souls.
The little archipelago is composed, on the north, of Grande-Miquelon,
situate about 47 4' north latitude and 56 20' west longitude, on the
south, of Petite-Miquelon or Langlade and, to the south-east of the
latter, of St. Pierre which is much smaller but has a population three
times greater than the two former.

It is hardly necessary to mention a few insignificant islets, which
are nothing but bare granite rocks with no vegetation and uninhabited.
Since 1783 the Grande and Petite Miquelon have been united by a
sand-bank.

Saint Pierre contains the _chef-lieu_ or capital of the same name
where resides the governor of the whole group. This modest town is
surrounded by low hills covered with dwarf resinous trees, which
barely reach to the height of a child's shoulder. In the busy season,
the floating population of fishermen and seamen from France and other
countries greatly exceeds the number of the residents. The movements
of the ships, the fishing and curing, then give a great animation to
these poor islands, whose soil is sterile and whose climate is severe
but very healthy.

A very small portion of St. Pierre and Miquelon is under cultivation;
a few potatoes and cabbages and a little hay are all that a farmer can
find. Vegetation is generally stunted. The hills in certain places
are 500 feet high; in the lower portions are many swamps and
morasses. Fishing is the chief if not the exclusive occupation of
the inhabitants. Owing to the scarcity of wood the fuel is coal which
comes principally from Nova Scotia and Cap Breton. The climate greatly
resembles that of the ports of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The shores
are frequently covered with dense fogs, which arise suddenly and hang
over them for several days. St. Pierre on the north-east side of the
island of the same name has an excellent harbor capable of containing
a large number of vessels, with a very good anchorage. Sometimes as
many as 60 fishing vessels are there at a time. The other harbours
of the group offer neither the same advantages nor the same security.
When certain winds blow, vessels which are anchored in them have to go
out to sea to avoid being dashed by the gales upon the rocks.

To conclude these data upon the Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon
I may say that Nature seems to have specially intended them for
excellent fishing stations.

       *       *       *       *       *

The waters around St. Pierre and Miquelon teem with numbers of various
kinds of fish. Herring is often found in great shoals, but as the
French fishermen who go there fish almost exclusively for cod, I will
only speak of the latter.

Naturalists call it _gadus morrhua_; its chief characteristics are
three dorsal fins, two anal fins and a wattle or bunch of filaments
attached to the lower jaw. It is a malacopterygian or soft-finned
fish. There are several species of this. The best known is the common
cod. Its length varies from 70 centimetres to a metre. Its head is
large and pointed, its mouth enormous, its eyes large and veiled with
a transparent membrane, its scales are gray on the back and white on
the belly with golden spots, and its fins are yellow and gray.

Such are the chief external characteristics of this denizen of the
deep. If to this be added teeth simply imbedded in the flesh and
which can be moved at will by the fish, a very capacious stomach, a
voracious appetite and prodigious fecundity, you will have an idea of
the hecatombs of small fish which the cod devours before it becomes
the prey of that terrible destroyer, that omnivorous being, called
_man_.

The cod sometimes attains the weight of one hundred pounds; but,
large or small, heavy or light, it is always a precious treasure and a
wholesome food for human beings. I alluded just now to its fecundity;
you may judge of this for yourselves. The females carry from 4 to 8
millions of eggs: what romancer's dream can be compared to this living
reality? One of those _savants_, who respect nothing and who compel
nature to unveil the most mysterious of its hidden secrets, calculates
the number of animalculae in the milt of a single male cod at
150,000,000. This species abounds in all the northern seas of Europe
and America, in the entrance to the channel and on the coast of
Ireland. On the latter and on those of Sweden, Norway and Scotland,
it gives occupation to many fishermen but it is on the Banks of New
Foundland or in their neighborhood that fishing is carried on on a
large scale.

The season runs from February to November. At the Grand Banks of
New-Foundland it begins in May. When the cod is taken it is salted
or dried. In the first case it is gutted, the liver and eggs removed
after cutting off the head and tongue which are put to one side. It
is then known as _green cod-fish_. It is highly important to have on
board each vessel a man who is skilful in opening the fish and cutting
off the heads. White cod is that which is salted but dried quickly
and on which the salt leaves a kind of whitish crust. To complete the
drying it is exposed to the sun, and afterwards smoked; it is then
known as dry cod-fish. It is sometimes confounded under the name of
stock fish (_merluche_), with the sea-fish prepared in the same manner
on the shores of Provence. Cod fishing is carried on either on rocky
shores or on sand banks where the largest fish are taken at depths
varying from 25 to 50 fathoms.

It is impossible to find exactly how cod fishing originated. Some
endeavor to give the credit to the Portuguese Gaspar Corterreal, at
the beginning of the 16th century; but it is thought, with far
more reason, that the Basque fishermen, while in pursuit of whales,
discovered the grand and lesser Banks of New-Foundland a century
before the expedition of Christopher Columbus. These hardy fishermen
had explored the coast of Canada and assuredly knew New-Foundland,
the land of the Bacalaos as they called it, before the great Genoese
navigator cleaved the Caribbean sea with the prow of a European
vessel. The Dutch and English appear also to have engaged in cod
fishing as early as the 14th century, the latter on the coast of
Iceland, and the fishermen of La Rochelle and Brittany had cast
their lines in the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence long
before Jacques-Cartier had unfurled the standard with the golden
_fleurs-de-lys_, to the astonished gaze of the Hurons of Stadacona.

       *       *       *       *       *

Cod may be caught in various ways, with ordinary and deep sea lines,
seines and large nets. But the first of these means, while productive
of excellent results, is the best as regards the future of the
fisheries, and this is established by many facts. However prolific the
cod might be, man's blind avidity would succeed, if not in destroying
the species, at least in considerably lessening the value of the
fisheries, if a wise legislation did not by far-seeing enactments
oppose the insatiable cupidity of those who think only of the present.
It is a fact well-known in this country that the fishermen from the
United States, after having, like prodigals, wasted their own cod
fisheries, would have done the same with those in Canada if they had
not been prevented. How could it be otherwise, when some of the boats
had from 4 to 6 deep sea lines with 1,000 hooks to each. The American
fishermen have by this means destroyed several species in Canadian
waters. As was stated in the famous speech delivered on the 3rd May,
1879, in the House of Commons at Ottawa, by the Honorable Mr. Pierre
Fortin the member for Gasp, the first president of this Geographical
Society, and one whom I have the honor of counting among my personal
friends, these interminable deep-sea lines kill off the female fish.
Seining is equally prejudicial, for, with the larger fish, there are
caught numbers of small fry which have to be thrown back into the
sea, where their remains frequently poison the waters or supply such
a quantity of food to the fish that they for a long time disdain the
bait of more conscientious fishermen.

       *       *       *       *       *

The flesh of the cod-fish is not the only portion of it which is used.
Amongst other things, its liver yields the celebrated oil which is so
useful to science and industry.

It is obtained chiefly from the common cod _gadus morrhua_ of which we
have spoken. In addition to Newfoundland the principal places where it
is manufactured are Dieppe, Dunkirk, Ostend, England, Holland and
the Loffoden Isles. The processes vary and produce oils of different
qualities; they maybe reduced to two: 1. Preparing the oil by means of
putrefaction and the heat of the sun or artificial heat; 2. Preparing
it exclusively by means of artificial heat. In New-Foundland the
livers taken from the fish are thrown into large vats in the bottom of
which numerous holes are pierced and which serve to drain off the
oil as well as the blood and serum into other vats which are placed
beneath. The oil which rises to the surface is then collected, in
large barrels.

There are five varieties of cod-liver oil: 1. The light coloured;
2. The brown; 3. The black; 4. The pale; 5. The golden green. The
first is a golden yellow with a very faint smell; it at first tastes
sweet but afterwards has a sharp taste. The second is of the color of
brown ochre, has a strong fishy smell similar to that of salt herring
and a fishy taste. The third is of a dark brown, almost black, color
with a nauseating smell, bitter and empyreumatic in taste. The fourth
is yellowish with no particularly pronounced smell and taste. The
fifth is transparent, golden green in color, sweet to the taste and
smell. Ordinary cod-liver oil is that prepared with perfectly fresh
livers with a soft, dry heat, kept free from contact with the air, in
jars of earthenware or crockery. According to the chemists Delattre,
Girardin and Rigel, its composition is as follows:

       Oleine                                      988.700
       Margarine                                     8.760
       Chlorine                                      1.122
       Iodine                                        0.327
       Bromine                                       0.043
       Phosphorus                                    0.203
       Sulphur                                       0.201
       Phosphoric acid                               0.108
       Sulphuric acid                                0.236
       Loss                                          0.300
                                                     -----
                Total                            1,000,000

Cod-liver oil is the object of much adulteration. The oils, which
are substituted in its stead, are generally: refined fish oil, either
alone or mixed with iodine or, iodides; cod-liver oil itself mixed
with ordinary fish-oil; olive oil or the oil of poppyseed and even
sometimes with colza oil. Chemists have sought in vain for the proper
means of discovering these various kinds of adulteration, or at least
they have all arrived at different conclusions which do not give the
desirable scientific certainty. The only real result that has been
obtained is that the presence or absence of cod-liver oil in any given
oil can be ascertained. The test employed is concentrated sulphuric
acid. If a few drops are poured into a small quantity of cod-liver oil
spread on a piece of glass laid upon white paper, a violet ring will
form which soon becomes crimson and in a few minutes brown.

There are some who consider iodine to be the active principle of this
therapeutic agent and their preference of one kind over another is
due to the greater or less quantity of that principle which may be
present.

Cod-liver oil is used in medicine for all kinds of diseases,
scrofulous and tuberculosis affections, softening of the bones,
rheumatism, gout and affections of the nervous system.

As to the theory of the therapeutic action of this powerful medical
agent it is beyond my province.

Tanners and chamois-dressers use cod-liver oil to make leather soft
and bright.

Substitutes for cod-liver oil or substances which have the same
medical properties, are numerous; they are taken from the cetacea,
from fish, amphibia, mammals, birds, reptiles, crustacea and even from
the vegetable kingdom. I will only mention the best known: such as
the oil derived from the liver of the ray, from the shark and herring;
whale and seal oil; milk, suet, neats-foot oil; yolks of eggs;
snake-oil; oil of poppy seed, linseed, nuts and sweet almonds. I leave
to the disciples of Hippocrates, both present and future, the task
of deciding what amount of confidence must be given to these various
substitutes for cod-liver oil and I make way for them with the
pleasant satisfaction of a man who has not felt the necessity of
making use either of this famous remedy or of its substitutes.

       *       *       *       *       *

I have already stated that France derives the greater portion of
the codfish which it consumes from the islands of Saint Pierre and
Miquelon.

In order to understand why the French fishermen are so anxious to come
to such distant waters, one must have an idea of the profits to be
realized and one or two examples will suffice to show this. On the
banks of Newfoundland some fishermen have been known to take from 400
to 550 cod in 10 or 11 hours. On one occasion 8 men took, in one day,
80 score on the Dogger bank.

Besides, there is another inducement. The French government which,
from the very outset, has been fully alive to the importance of these
fisheries, gives to each vessel a bonus in proportion to the amount of
its take. These bonuses vary from 16 to 20 francs per metric quintal
according to destination. Moreover, each fishing-boat gets fifty
francs for every member of its crew, for fishing and curing, either on
the coast of New Foundland, at St. Pierre and Miquelon or on the Grand
Banks, while many vessels if they be at all fortunate may make more
than one trip to Europe during the same season, as it commences in May
and ends in November.

The part of the sea reserved for French fishermen is very extensive.
Towards the north it stretches to within three miles from the coast of
New-Foundland.

The average annual value of all the French fisheries is 3,500,000
or 87,000,000 francs. In 1876 they yielded 88,990,591 francs or 16
millions of dollars. 21,263 vessels or fishing boats, manned by 79,676
men, were employed in the various fisheries.

The catch of cod in the colony of Saint Pierre and Miquelon according
to official returns averaged, during the five years ending in 1871,
15,425,086 kilogrammes. The same returns show that for the five years
ending in 1874, the average number of vessels employed was 76 and of
boats 590, the total tonnage of which was 12,386 and the number of men
employed 5,335.

The French take yearly 25,000,000 kilogrammes of cod and sometimes
more, over three fifths, sometimes four fifths, come from the waters
of Saint Pierre and Miquelon and this is not only for recent years. If
we go back to 1863 we find 25,349,681 kilogrammes of cod representing
12,281,073 francs, imported into France. In 1864 there was an increase
and the catch gave 27,795,392 kilogrammes representing a value of
19,733,700 francs.

In conclusion, I may add that in the Iceland seas the French catch
more fish than the Icelanders themselves and bring to France each year
cod-fish to the amount of 270,000 or 6,750,000 francs. They have a
fleet of 290 vessels manned by 4400 men, the average tonnage of each
vessel being 90 tons.

The fishermen of the Iceland seas as well as those of New-Foundland,
receive bonuses. You will, thus see, Ladies and Gentlemen, that a
country invests its money wisely when it spends it in developing
an industry of this kind. In saying this, I only refer to pecuniary
benefit, but we must not overlook the fact that fishing develops
the sea-going instincts of a maritime population and by its stern
apprenticeship makes excellent seamen for the navy of a State.

       *       *       *       *       *

Since some years attempts have been made in England and even in Canada
to contest the rights of France to the New-Foundland fisheries. But,
if we examine the various treaties between England and France, we find
full confirmation of the latter's rights, which it has never ceased
to claim on all occasions and with the same persistence. The treaty
of Utrecht in 1713 compelled His Most Christian Majesty to cede
New-Foundland to the English but it confirmed his right to the
fisheries on the coast and in the bays of that Island.

The treaty of Utrecht, in so far as the fisheries were concerned,
was confirmed by article 5 of the treaty of Paris in 1763, Art. VI
of which cedes to France in addition, the Islands of St. Pierre and
Miquelon to "serve as a shelter to the French fishermen."

A pamphlet published in Quebec, in 1876, and intituled: "The New
Foundland fisheries." _Les Pcheries de Terre-Neuve_, bears the
following sub-heading. "The rights of France set forth, in reply
to the assertions of the Colonial Institute." _Droits de la France
exposs en rponse aux assertions de l'Institut Colonial_. This
carefully prepared treatise successfully establishes the rights of the
French.

The convention of 1857 shows that England, through the organ of its
government and of its official transactions, has admitted the claims
of France as founded.

       *       *       *       *       *

KEY.

_To assist those who wish to study the history of the right of fishing
in the waters of Saint Pierre and Miquelon._


The treaties and articles of treaties upon which France bases its
claims are the following:

    Treaty of Utrecht, 1713--Art. 13.
    Treaty of Paris, 1763--Art. 5.
    Treaty of Versailles, 1783--Arts 4, 5, 6.
    Treaty of Amiens, 1802--Art. 15.
    Treaty of Paris, 1814--Arts 8 and 13.
    Treaty of Paris, 1815--Art. 11.

The great difficulty in the question of the fisheries is to know
whether the French have the exclusive right to fish on that part of
the Newfoundland coast assigned to them by the treaties.

As my position requires me to be strictly impartial, I will now cite
the articles upon which is based the opposition to the claims of
France by the British Colonial Institute.

    Treaty of 1783. Art. 3.
    Convention of 1818 between Great Britain and the United States.

       *       *       *       *       *

I will not speak of the most ordinary uses of salt nor of the
usefulness of this condiment, which is indispensable for the
preservation of food. I will not deal at length with the industrial
applications of salt which serves to make artificial soda, and
prepare chlorine and sal ammoniac and to varnish certain kinds of
earthen-ware. Neither will I plunge into the darkness of the past
to show how salt was employed in religious worship. By the Jews and
Pagans it was used in sacrifices to purify and consecrate the victim.
The lustral water was salted, as is the holy water of our days, which
proves, as Solomon said, that there is nothing new under the sun. But
there is a subject of the highest importance for this very country,
which I cannot pass by without devoting a few words to it; I refer
to the use of salt in agriculture. Mixed with a certain proportion of
soot, it improves lands under cultivation and increases the fertility
of wild lands. It is an effectual remedy against rust and, when mixed
with seeds, it preserves them against the ravages of insects. It
promotes the vegetation of oily seeds and particularly flax, that flax
which is used in making fine fabrics.

Salt also increases the amount of fodder in pasture lands and meadows;
it improves the quality of hay, renders coarse forage more nutritious
and damp food less injurious to cattle and horses. It preserves
animals from disease, makes their flesh more palatable and increases
the yield of milk in cows and goats. Moreover, salt, if used as a
fertilizer, can change the climate. The inhabitants of Canada may,
if they wish, raise the temperature of their shores and shorten their
winters. They will not, in all probability have an Andalusian sky, for
the effects of chloride of sodium can hardly go so far. But seriously
speaking, the cold may be made less intense in the following way. Some
soils absorb salt and become heated by it. But there are others which
do not absorb it completely; the salt washed by the rains is carried
to the waters of lakes and rivers and after a certain number of years
when it accumulates in sufficient quantities, it prevents and delays
the freezing of the waters. Now, it must be admitted that all these
watery surfaces made solid by frost and which are scattered all over
fair Canada's bosom are famous ice-houses which contribute to no
slight degree to bring down the thermometer to 40 below zero.

Finally, it is a well known fact that salt exists in large quantities
throughout the world, either in beds of greater or lesser thickness
in the bowels of the earth (known as rock salt) or in solution in the
waters of the sea, of certain lakes and springs. In Spain, Aragon and
Catalonia have considerable deposits of rock-salt. Sea-water contains
about 3 per cent of salt which is obtained by evaporating the water in
extensive basins hollowed out on the sea-shore and known as salterns.
As a rule they are composed: 1 of a vast reservoir placed in front of
the saltern proper, deeper than them and communicating with the sea by
a canal closed by a sluice. It is filled at high tide, and is intended
to keep the water until the impurities it contains settle at the
bottom and to feed the other basins, as the water they contain is
evaporated; 2. Of the salterns proper, situate behind the reservoir
and divided into a multitude of compartments separated by small dykes,
which are intended to increase the exposed surfaces so as to hasten
evaporation and to receive the waters as they become more and more
condensed. These compartments communicate with each other, but in such
a manner that the water goes from one to the other, only after having
passed through a long series of canals.

When the water begins to redden, it is a sign that the salt will soon
crystallize; the water then becomes covered with a salt film which
falls to the bottom. The salt is drawn up on the small dykes which
separate the compartments and it is then drained oft. This process is
repeated two or three times a week from the month of May to the month
of October.

Salt means life to a great many men and a very large proportion of the
whole amount used comes from my country.

It is the chief article of commerce between Spain and the islands of
Saint Pierre and Miquelon.

       *       *       *       *       *

The lecturer then gave detailed information on the following subjects:

    The trade between the Islands of St. Pierre, and Miquelon, and Spain,
    and France;

    The trade with Canada and New Foundland;

    The nature and value of the exports to St. Pierre and Miquelon, by each
    of the provinces of Canada and expecially by the Province of Quebec;

    Navigation.

       *       *       *       *       *

He then concluded in these terms:

I thought you would not be sorry to hear something of that corner of
the world, the last remnant of French grandeur in North America and
as my noble friend, Lord Dufferin, so eloquently says when speaking of
Iceland in his "Letters from high latitudes" translated into French by
your fellow countryman, Mr. Bedard, the modest archipelago of which
I have spoken, "shares with the Dominion of Canada the Aurora's ruby
affluence and is wrapped in the same silver mantle." For you, French
Canadians in particular, the subject cannot be altogether devoid of
interest. Your forefathers, before landing on the shores of the St.
Lawrence, all passed close to the rocks of St. Pierre and Miquelon,
and they would have then been greatly surprised if they had been told
that they would one day be the last and only sentinel of their mother
country in these waters, over which sailed all those gallant cavaliers
who founded Canada or defended it, Cartier, Champlain, d'Iberville,
etc., _Sic transit gloria mundi_. But another conquest did not arrest
in their flight the prolific seeds which were to give birth to a
numerous posterity. The 60,000 colonists sent to this country by
France multiplied in an almost miraculous manner, and there is every
reason to believe that she will one day be represented on the American
continent by a great people which will speak her language and be proud
to trace back its origin to her.

And how could it be otherwise! Never was a nobler cradle given to a
young nation. How can one describe that majestic river, those stately
forests, and glorious sites which make of Canada one of the finest
countries in the world! Your winters are severe, but they cannot but
develop strong constitutions which defy the coldness of the weather.
Your dazzling sheets of snow contain no miasma to undermine health and
in your extensive fields the lungs inhale the purest air to be found
under the sun. In summer, luxuriant vegetation and foliage enable you
to breathe your fill of oxygen, while the resinous trees diffuse a
health-giving aroma all around them.

Extensive tracts of land well suited for cultivation, await but
willing hands to return a hundred-fold what is confided to them. May
you therefore grow, youthful branch of the grand Latin race, may you
flourish in this land of far-distant horizons and become in turn a
powerful tree deep-rooted in a glorious past, whose crown will point
to a brilliant future.

[Illustration:(From a sketch by the Count of Premio-Real).

(D'aprs un croquis du comte de Premio-Real).]





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