Newfoundlanders. The points decided were: (1)
The right to make regulations as to the exercise of the liberty to
take fish, under the Treaty of 1818, is inherent to the sovereignty of
Great Britain; (2) The United States has the right to employ
non-Americans in the fisheries, but they are not entitled to benefit
or immunity from the said Treaty; (3) While American fishing vessels
may be required to report at colonial ports when convenient, such
vessels should not be subject to the purely commercial formalities of
report, entry, and clearance at a Custom House, nor to light, harbour,
or other dues not imposed upon Newfoundland fishermen; (4) American
fishing vessels entering certain colonial bays, for shelter, repairs,
wood and water, should not be subject to dues or other demands for
doing so, but they might be required to report to any reasonably
convenient Custom House or official; (5) In the case of bays,
mentioned in the Treaty of 1818, three marine miles are to be measured
from a straight line drawn across the body of water at the place where
it ceases to bear the configuration and characteristics of a bay. At
all other places the three marine miles are to be measured following
the sinuosities of the coast.

To return to the period now under consideration. It saw a bold attempt
to deal with the Poor-law scandal. Relief to able-bodied persons was
discontinued in 1868. A succession of good fishing seasons, and the
development of the mining industry, lessened the difficulty of the
step. Seven years later came a still more momentous proposal. "The
period appears to have arrived," said Governor Hill, in his opening
speech to the Legislature, "when a question which has for some time
engaged public discussion, viz., the construction of a railway across
the island to St. George's Bay, should receive a practical
solution.... There is a well-founded expectation that the line of
railway would attract to our shores the mail and passenger traffic of
the Atlantic ... and thus would be secured those vast commercial
advantages which our geographical position manifestly entitles us to
command. As a preliminary to this object a proposition will be
submitted to you for a thorough survey, to ascertain the most eligible
line, and with a view to the further inquiry whether the colony does
not possess within itself the means of inducing capitalists to
undertake this great enterprise of progress."

It is easy to forget, in speaking of