The Story of Newfoundland Part 6

Under Governor Prescott (1834) and Governor Harvey (1841) began organized attempts to foster the agricultural interest. Liberal grants of land were made to poor settlers, and considerable sums voted for the construction of roads. This was indeed a period of healthy activity, for the development of the seal fishery added in a variety of ways to the prosperity of the island, and the invention of steam, together with the establishment of a regular mail service, brought Newfoundland very much nearer to the home country.

On June 9th, 1846, came the last great fire but one which has ravaged the colony. By great misfortune it broke out when a high wind was blowing, and spread with fatal rapidity all over the town. Buildings, public and private, wooden and stone, were involved in a common destruction, and the last touch of horror came when the large oil vats fringing the harbour caught fire. The Custom House, the Church of St.

John's, the Courts and Gaol, the Theatre, the Bank of British North America, the Colonial Treasurer's Office, and the Savings Bank, were all destroyed. It was estimated that the aggregate amount of damage done was 1,000,000, and that upwards of 12,000 persons lost their homes. In this crus.h.i.+ng affliction the spirit shown by all cla.s.ses, from Governor Harvey downwards, was admirable. At a representative meeting of the citizens convened by the Governor it was resolved:

"That this meeting is aware that the well-established credit and stability of the trade of St. John's, coupled with the natural and inexhaustible resources of its fisheries, will speedily enable it to recover its usual current, but that in the meantime it is necessary that publicity should be given to the demand for provisions and building materials which at present exists in this market."

Help from Canada was quickly forthcoming and a grant of 30,000 from the home country combined with private efforts to meet the most pressing needs of the moment. The building of wider streets, the proscription of wooden houses, and the provision of an ampler water supply, showed that the lessons of the past had not been thrown away.

That year, 1846, was to be an _annus mirabilis_, for a storm, fiercer than the wildest within living memory, wrought havoc among the s.h.i.+pping in St. John's Harbour, and overwhelmed many substantial buildings inland. It seemed as if the malice of destiny had sent the gale to destroy the little that had escaped the fire; for Natives'

Hall, which was being used to shelter the houseless, was blown to the ground.

About this time--thanks to the currents of excitement spread everywhere by the European revolutionary movements of 1848--began a fresh agitation for responsible government, which had already been granted to the other North American colonies, and which involved a larger measure of self-government than had been conceded in the const.i.tution of 1832. The inhabitants became more and more anxious that appointments within the colony should depend upon popular approval--or, rather, on the choice of the party commanding a majority in the Legislature--and not upon the Crown's nomination. The official view at home on this demand was stated both by the Whig, Earl Grey, and the Conservative, Sir John Pakington. The former wrote:

"Until the wealth and population of the colony shall have increased considerably beyond their present amount, the introduction of what is called responsible government will by no means prove to its advantage.... The inst.i.tutions of Newfoundland have been of late in various ways modified and altered, and some time must unavoidably elapse before they can acquire that amount of fixity and adaptation to the colonial wants of society which seems an indispensable preliminary to the future extension of popular government."

Similarly, Sir John Pakington, in a despatch of April 3rd, 1852, observed:

"Her Majesty's Government see no reason for differing from the conclusions at which their predecessors had arrived in the question of the establishment of responsible government, and which were conveyed to you by Lord Grey in the despatch already mentioned. I consider, on the contrary, that the wisdom and justice of these conclusions are confirmed by the accounts since received from Newfoundland."

The change came in 1855, a year after the Secretary of State for the Colonies had informed the Governor that "Her Majesty's Government has come to the conclusion that they ought not to withhold from Newfoundland those inst.i.tutions and that civil administration which, under the popular name of responsible government, have been adopted in all Her Majesty's neighbouring possessions in North America, and they are prepared to concede the immediate application of the system as soon as certain preliminary conditions have been acceded to on the part of the Legislature." At the same time the numbers of members in the Representative a.s.sembly was, at the instance of the Imperial Government, increased to thirty.

It was not long before the Empire had an instructive lesson in the influence with which responsible government arms a colony. A natural _rapprochement_ between France and England followed the Crimean War, and a Convention was drafted dealing with the Newfoundland fisheries.

Against the proposed adjustment, involving a surrender by Great Britain of Newfoundland fis.h.i.+ng rights, local feeling was strong and unanimous. Pet.i.tion followed pet.i.tion, and delegation delegation. "The excitement in the colony over the Convention of 1857 was most intense and widespread; the British flag was hoisted half-mast; other excited citizens flew American flags; everywhere there was burning indignation over this proposal to sell our birthright for a mess of pottage.[40]

The resolute att.i.tude of those interested elicited from Mr H.

Labouchere, then Colonial Secretary, the welcome expression of a great const.i.tutional principle:

"The proposals contained in the Convention having been now unequivocally refused by the colony, they will of course fall to the ground; and you are authorized to give such a.s.surance as you may think proper, that the consent of the community of Newfoundland is regarded by Her Majesty's Government as the essential preliminary to any modification of their territorial or maritime rights."

So vital is the appreciation of this principle to an Empire const.i.tuted like our own, that it is worth while to set out the resolution of the Newfoundland Legislature which killed the Convention:

"We deem it our duty most respectfully to protest in the most solemn way against any attempt to alienate any portion of our fisheries or our soil to any foreign power without the consent of the local Legislature. As our fishery and territorial rights const.i.tute the basis of our commerce and of our social and political existence, as they are our birthright and the legal inheritance of our children, we cannot under any circ.u.mstances a.s.sent to the terms of the Convention; we therefore earnestly entreat that the Imperial Government will take no steps to bring this treaty into operation, but will permit the trifling privileges that remain to us to continue unimpaired."

In 1858 took place a real advance in the relations between different parts of the Empire, for in that year the east coast of Newfoundland (Trinity Bay) was connected with Ireland by a submarine cable. The messages then exchanged through Newfoundland between the Queen and the President of the United States mark the most decisive point in what has been called the shrinkage of the world. Eight years later a second Atlantic cable was successfully landed at Heart's Content.

A const.i.tutional crisis arose in 1860, which was followed by serious political disturbances. The Government, in which Mr Kent was Premier, introduced a measure to determine the colonial equivalent of imperial sterling in the payment of officials. The judges forwarded to the Governor, Sir Alexander Bannerman, a representation against the proposal; Mr Kent thereupon in the a.s.sembly accused the Governor of having entered into a conspiracy with the judges and the minority in the House against the executive. The Governor demanded an explanation which Mr Kent declined to give, adding that in his judgment he was not called upon to explain his utterances as a member of the Legislature to the Governor. Sir Alexander Bannerman immediately dismissed the Ministry, and invited the Opposition leader, Mr Hoyles, to form an Administration. The election took place in April, 1861.

Political pa.s.sions ran high, and the old feud between Romanists and Protestants was most unhappily revived. At the Protestant Harbour Grace the election could not be held at all, while at the Catholic Harbour Main a riot took place in which life was lost.

The new a.s.sembly was opened in May 1861, and showed a majority in favour of Mr Hoyles. It soon became clear that the pa.s.sions of the mob in St. John's were dangerously excited; Sir Alexander was hooted and stoned on his return from the a.s.sembly, and a little later an organized series of attacks was commenced upon the dwellings of well-known Roman Catholics. The magistrates thereupon called on the military, under the command of Colonel Grant. The soldiers marched out, eighty strong, and confronted the mob, which then numbered many thousands. Encouraged by their commander, the troops submitted with patient gallantry to insults and even to volleys of stones. Finally, it is alleged, a pistol was fired at them from the crowd. Then at last the order was given to fire; several persons were killed and twenty wounded. Among the latter, by great misfortune, was the Rev. Jeremiah O'Donnell, who had bravely and patiently tried to calm the mob.

The whole incident was unfortunate, but it is impossible to accept the contention that Sir Alexander Bannerman was guilty of an unconst.i.tutional exercise of the prerogative in dissolving the a.s.sembly. It will not seriously be maintained that the representative of the Queen could have maintained relations with a Minister who publicly insulted him in his public capacity, and then curtly declined to explain or withdraw his charges. As to the sequel, it is sufficient to say that the civil authorities would have been grossly wanting in their duty if they had failed to call out the soldiers, and that the mob were not fired upon until the extreme limits of endurance had been reached. That innocent persons should have been involved in the consequences is matter of great regret; but a.s.sociation with a lawless mob, even when the motive is as admirable as that of Father O'Donnell, necessarily admits this risk.

It cannot be doubted that deep-lying economic causes had much to do with political discontent. From the first the financial position of the colony had been unsound. The short prosperity of the winter months had produced a vicious and widely-spread system of credit. Soon a majority of the fishermen lived during the winter upon the prospective earnings of the coming season, and then when it came addressed themselves without zest to an occupation the fruits of which were already condemned. In this way a single bad season pauperized hundreds of hard-working men. Governor Waldegrave in 1797 had been struck by the failure of the law to provide for the poor, and owing to his exertions a voluntary system of poor relief was set on foot. By the time of Governor Gambier, in 1800, these measures had been discontinued and, indeed, permanence was not to be looked for in a system which depended upon voluntary support. The difficulty was that the Crown officers advised Governor Gambier "that the provision of the Poor Laws cannot be enforced in Newfoundland; and that the Governor has no authority to raise a sum of money by a rate upon the inhabitants."

The evil grew worse rather than better, and by the time of the great Governor Cochrane, in 1825, it had a.s.sumed the form of an inveterate social disease. Many able-bodied applicants for relief were provided with work in public employments, and the wholesome warning was added that those who refused such work would under no circ.u.mstances be ent.i.tled to relief. Governor Cochrane did not shrink from indicating the real cause of the distress. "Those who are upon wages," he wrote, "receive a sum during the summer months, which, if properly husbanded, would, together with the produce of their own exertion after the fishery has ceased, be fully adequate to the support of themselves and families for the following winter. Yet I am led to believe that a large portion of this is dissipated before many weeks or days have elasped after the fis.h.i.+ng season has terminated, and in consequence of such profusion many families are left to want and misery."

The generality of the system destroyed in time that healthy dread of pauperism which, as an economic factor, is of the highest national importance. The receipt of poor relief lost the stigma a.s.signed to it with rough justice by Anglo-Saxon independence, and in 1863, out of a total public expenditure of 90,000, the astounding proportion of 30,000 was expended upon the necessities of the poor.

Far-seeing observers had long before pointed out that the remedy for these disorders must be a radical one. Improvidence among the poorer cla.s.ses is familiar to economists in more experienced societies than that of Newfoundland, and may be accepted as a permanent element in the difficulty. The real hope lay in opening up, on remunerative lines, industries which would occupy the poor in the lean months. Nor was Newfoundland without such resources, if the capital necessary for their development could have been found. A penetrating railway system, by its indirect effects upon the mining and agricultural interests, would have done much to solve the problem of the unemployed. The difficulty was that the state of the public finances was in no condition to undertake costly schemes of betterment. In a later chapter we shall see the Government, after exhausting the resources of loans, looking to a desperate remedy to conquer its powerlessness for enterprise.

FOOTNOTES:

[40] Prowse, p. 473.

CHAPTER VIII

MODERN NEWFOUNDLAND

In 1869[41] took place a General Election, in which great Imperial interests were involved. Governor Musgrave, in 1866, had advised Federal union with the Canadian provinces--then about to federate among themselves--and the election three years later was fought upon this issue. The result was a complete rout for the Federal party; a rout so complete that the question has hardly since reappeared within the field of practical politics. The causes of this defeat were, in the first place, economic considerations; secondly, Irish national feeling and hostility to the union; and thirdly, a certain distrust and dread of Canada. Judge Prowse, whose intimate knowledge of Newfoundland ent.i.tles his opinion to special respect, thinks that even in recent years there lingered some rankling memory of the days when French Canadian raids terrified the colonists in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.[42] However this may be, it is certain that the outlying portions of the Empire hardly as yet felt the same community with and loyalty to one another as they did with regard to the home country. The relation of Newfoundland to the Dominion of Canada resembles in many ways that of New Zealand to the new Australian Federal system, and in each group of colonies there is a noticeable drift towards centralization. Judge Prowse, who was a strong believer in North American union both from an Imperial and from a Colonial point of view, has fully indicated the difficulties. The Canadian protectionist tariff, the greater attractions of the United States market (inasmuch as the Dominion is a fish producer rather than a fish consumer), the opposition which wide political changes unavoidably excite--all these obstacles were formidable for the moment. It is uncertain even now whether they will be strong enough to prevent, indefinitely, the realization of the Confederate scheme. It is possible that such a union would be followed by some disadvantages to Newfoundland; but, on the other hand, the gain would be very great.

The politics of the colony would be braced by the ampler atmosphere of the Dominion, and the tendency towards parochialism finally arrested.

The geographical difficulty ceased to exist when the United States taught us how vast are the areas over which successful political unions are possible. No one can fairly ask that Newfoundland should take the step in the teeth of her own material interests; but, a.s.suming that union with Canada can be reconciled with those interests, the Imperial issue holds the field. Its importance can hardly be overstated. So soon as the several communities, which together form the Empire, realize not merely their ties with the Mother Country, but also their own organic interconnection, from that moment the whole Imperial idea receives an immense accession of strength.[43] But it is now elementary that Newfoundland, and Newfoundland alone, can take this decision. She is the mistress of her own destinies.

It is unfortunate that the Blaine-Bond incident in 1890 should have excited ill-feeling against Canada in the older colony. In September of that year a treaty of trade regulating the purchase of bait, etc., the s.h.i.+pping of crews, and trans.h.i.+pment of cargo (called, from the delegates employed on each side,[44] the Blaine-Bond Treaty) was informally negotiated between Newfoundland and the United States, and a draft of a convention was prepared. In the following December this draft was modified, but in January 1891, Mr Blaine submitted a counter-proposal, which the United States were disposed to accept, though they were not really anxious to effect the arrangement. The treaty had been submitted to the Colonial Office, and approved by it; but the ratification of the Imperial Government was refused at the last moment. Probably the refusal would have caused less irritation in the colony if it had sprung from Imperial considerations; as a fact, it was procured by Canadian remonstrances against Newfoundland's separate action in a matter concerning Canada also, and it was felt in Newfoundland that the island had been sacrificed to the exigencies of Canadian party politics. It may be added here that in 1902, another separate agreement--the Hay-Bond Treaty--similar to the preceding, was entered into, but was rejected by the United States Senate.

Accordingly the Newfoundland Government secured in 1905 the pa.s.sing of the Foreign Fis.h.i.+ng Vessels Act which deprived the American fishermen (more particularly those of Gloucester, Ma.s.s.) of the special privileges. .h.i.therto conceded, leaving them the right under the Convention of 1818. Disputes arose. The question was discussed at the Imperial Conference in 1907. After temporary alleviation of the difficulties by a _modus vivendi_, the British and American Governments came to the conclusion that the best remedy lay in a submission to the Hague Court of Arbitration: in 1909 the terms of reference were agreed to, and on September 1910 the award was given.[45] Newfoundland was thereby placed in a very favourable position for dealing with the discrimination exercised against fish exported to America by 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 ent.i.tled to benefit or immunity from the said Treaty; (3) While American fis.h.i.+ng 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 fis.h.i.+ng 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 fis.h.i.+ng 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 sh.o.r.es the mail and pa.s.senger traffic of the Atlantic ... and thus would be secured those vast commercial advantages which our geographical position manifestly ent.i.tles 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 Newfoundland until 1875, how very little was known of the interior. The Newfoundland with which we are concerned consisted in fact of a few towns on the coast, with a great and imperfectly explored interior behind them. Even down to the beginning of the twentieth century very little was known of much of the island. It is difficult to a.s.sign limits to the developments which are probable when a thorough system of internal communication shall have given free play to each latent industry.

The first proposal was that a railway should be constructed from St.

John's to St. George's Bay, but objections were made from England on the ground that the line would end on the French sh.o.r.e. Then came the proposal that it should run from St. John's to Hall's Bay, with branches to Brigus and Harbour Grace, covering in all a distance of about 340 miles. A joint committee of both Houses prepared a report, which became the basis of the Bill (1880). One sentence is worth quoting, because it states very clearly the difficulties which have played so large a part in the history of Newfoundland:

"The question of the future of our growing population has for some time enjoyed the earnest attention of all thoughtful men in this country, and has been the subject of serious solicitude. The fisheries being our main resource, and to a large extent the only dependence of the people, those periodic partial failures which are incident to such pursuits continue to be attended with recurring visitations of pauperism, and there seems no remedy to be found for this condition of things but that which may lie in varied and extensive pursuits.... Our fisheries have no doubt increased, but not in a measure corresponding to our measure of population; and even though they were capable of being expanded, that object would be largely neutralized by the decline in price which follows from a large catch, as no increase of markets can be found to give remunerative returns for an augmented supply."

The Act was pa.s.sed, which empowered the raising of a loan of 1,000,000 for the purpose of constructing the proposed railway. By November, 1884, the line was completed as far as Harbour Grace; by 1888 a further instalment of some twenty-seven miles was ready between Whitbourne and Placentia; soon afterwards it was decided to recommence building the line northwards from St. John's to Hall's Bay, which has been discontinued through the failure of the contractors, and to carry out the scheme the Reid Contract was entered into.

We are now reaching a period when the leading parts are played by persons still or recently living, and the story must therefore be continued with the reserve proper to one who is not himself an inhabitant of Newfoundland. Particularly is this true of the much discussed Reid Contract, the circ.u.mstances of which are reserved, from their great importance, for a separate chapter.[46]

It is unfortunate that the ensuing stage of this short narrative should be marred by so much trouble, but, in fact, the last ten years of the nineteenth century have been among the most disastrous in the history of the island. In 1892 came the most destructive of all the fires with which St. John's has been afflicted. The fire broke out in a stable at five o'clock on the afternoon of Friday, July 8th, and lasted until nine o'clock on Sat.u.r.day morning. It came at the end of a month's draught, was helped by a powerful wind, and found the town with a depleted water supply. Arising in an eastern suburb, the flames were carried right into the business centre of the town, and finally reached the rich warehouses of Water Street. Eye witnesses describe the heat as so intense that brick and stone offered little more resistance than wood. A mile of wharf.a.ge was destroyed, and Water Street completely gutted. "Over a vast area," wrote one who noted the effects, "nothing is now to be seen but tottering walls and chimneys."

It was computed that 10,000 persons were left homeless, and that the total damage exceeded 20,000,000 dollars, of which less than 5,000,000 dollars were covered by insurance. The Savings Bank, the Hospital, the Masonic Hall, and the Anglican Cathedral, alike perished. To complete the misery of the sufferers, it soon became known that the food supply remaining was only sufficient for ten days. As in 1846, the sympathy of Canada was promptly and warmly shown. The day after the fire 4,000 dollars' worth of provisions were sent over, and military tents sufficient to shelter 1,200 people. In England, a Mansion House fund was immediately opened by the Lord Mayor of London, and its final amount fell little short of 20,000. Sir Terence O'Brien, the Governor, and Lady O'Brien, happened to be in England at the time, and they threw themselves warmly into the cause of the colony.

In 1894, a misfortune of a different kind happened. On Monday, December 10th, the Commercial Bank, the Union Bank, and the Savings Bank, which had all been long established, were compelled to suspend payment. A widespread panic followed, and all business was paralysed.

Workmen were dismissed wholesale, no money being available for the payment of their wages. To make the crisis graver still, the Union Bank was to have provided the interest on the Public Debt, which was payable in London on January 1st. The population feared that the crash would bring about riots and other dread occurrences. In aggravation of the risk the rumour spread that Newfoundland was about to be incorporated into the Dominion of Canada as a mere province. The Government telegraphed to the authorities in London for an immediate loan of 200,000, and requested that a wars.h.i.+p should be despatched in view of imminent disturbances. The causes which led immediately to the failure were well stated in a Dalziel telegram to _The Times_:[47]

"The immediate cause of the financial crisis which has overwhelmed Newfoundland was the death of Mr Hall, a partner in the firm of Messrs Prowse, Hall & Morris, the London agents of the firms exporting fish to European markets. On his death the firm declined to meet further exchanges until an investigation of their affairs had been made. Their bills were protested, and the banks made demands on the Commercial Bank of St. John's, which was the drawer of the bills, and which, being unable to meet the demands made upon it, fell back upon its mercantile customers. These could not respond, and the bank had to suspend operations. The customers were compelled to make a.s.signments, and nearly every business house in the colony was crippled, so interwoven are the affairs of one establishment with those of another.

"The situation was only possible under the peculiar business customs of the colony. The fis.h.i.+ng industry here is pursued under a system of advances for vessels and equipments made by the merchants to the fishermen, who gave the catch at the end of the season in exchange.

The merchants receive large advances from the only two banks doing business here, the Union Bank of Newfoundland and the Commercial Bank.

By backing each other's bills the banks are enabled to carry on operations, and then at the close of the year, when the produce of the fisheries is realized, they are able to settle their overdrafts.

"The disaster happened at a most unfortunate time. If it had been postponed for another month the merchants would have realized on most of the fish, and the a.s.sets would have been far more valuable. At present, 2,000,000 dollars' worth of fishery products are stored in St. John's awaiting the means of s.h.i.+pment. Until financial aid from the outside world is obtained, it is impossible to place the fish on the market."

At this time the financial position of the colony was thoroughly unsound. Its population numbered roughly 200,000 persons, and its Public Debt amounted to 14,000,000 dollars, or nearly three million pounds sterling. The Ministry of the day resigned, after an unsuccessful attempt to form a coalition Government, and its successors applied for Imperial help, an application which logically involved the surrender of the Const.i.tution. In fact, the una.s.sisted credit of the colony seemed hopeless, for in a year or two the railway reckonings had to be met. The Government had issued bonds whereof yearly interest was to become payable on completion, amounting to almost a third of the total revenue of the colony.[48]