Mr Pedley quotes a letter from Governor Bonfoy to certain justices, which grimly illustrates the prevalence of crime in the eighteenth century:

"Whereas I think, for the good of this island in general, that gallows should be erected in the several districts, in order to deter from their robberies a parcel of villains, who think that they can do what they please with impunity.... You are, therefore, hereby required and directed to cause gallows to be erected in the most public places in your several districts, and cause all such persons as are guilty of robbery, felony, or the like crimes, to be sent round to this place in order to take their trial at the annual assizes held here, as I am determined to proceed against all such with the utmost severity of the law. Given under my hand at St. John's, the 12th of October, 1754."

Newfoundland was naturally affected by the rebellion of the American colonies. Of these Montcalm, in 1758, had written with rare insight: "The several advices I daily receive assure me England will one day lose her colonies. As to the English colonies, one essential point should be known: it is, that they are never taxed. The Mother Country should have taxed them from the foundation; I have certain advice that all the colonies would take fire at being taxed now."[30] The expulsion of the French from America had already lessened the dependence of the colonies upon the home country, when the House of Commons directed its corrupt and blighting attention to the English colonial system. The Stamp Act was passed in 1764, and repealed in 1766. In 1768 came Charles Townshend's mischievous duty on tea; and the American Congress met at Lexington in 1774. At this time the resident population of Newfoundland amounted to over 12,000[31] and it was soon realized that the colony would be gravely affected by the outbreak of war. Congress at once prohibited all trade with the English colonies. The seriousness of this blow was extreme, for Newfoundland was largely dependent upon the American trade for the necessaries of life. Want and tempest worked together for ill, and the year 1775 is one of the blackest in the history of the colony. The treaty with France in 1778 brought to the American colonists a success which their resources and, it must be added, their resolution could hardly have won alone, and once more exposed Newfoundland to European attacks. It was protected by the energy and resource of Governor Montague.

In 1775 came the very important Act known as Palliser's Act. This statute was based on the old selfish and restrictive view that Newfoundland should be a training ground for the Navy, and a place of trade, not a permanent settlement. Bounties were given to the fishing industry, and stringent measures were provided to ensure that masters trading to the island should return with undiminished crews. The privilege of drying fish was to be enjoyed only by such of the King's subjects as sailed to Newfoundland from Great Britain, or from one of the British dominions in Europe.

An interesting light upon the economic condition of the colony is thrown by the following figures:

Estimate of the sums necessary to pay the salaries of the Governor andCivil Officers in the Island of Newfoundland from April 1st, 1787, toApril 1st, 1788:
£s.d.
Salary of the Governor50000
The Governor's Secretary182100
The Judge of the Admiralty20000
The Naval Officer10000
The Agent10000
On Account, for Fees on Receipt and Audit10000
£1,182100

It will be of interest to give here a few figures as to the growth of the English population in order to show that colonial developments were proceeding in the right direction. "Residents grew apace, as the increase of women and children from 612 in 1710 to 1,356 in 1738, and to 2,508 in 1754 attested. Heads of families accounted for a third more, so that in round numbers permanent residents were 800 in 1710, 1,800 in 1738, and 3,400 in 1754. The ship's crews of English ships, for whose sake the older theorists taught that the fisheries primarily existed, numbered 3,600 in 1738 and 4,500 in 1754, so that they outnumbered residents, in the strictest sense of the word residents. But if residents included all those who wintered on the island, they outnumbered ship's crews during this half-century. On the other hand, if passengers were added to ships' crews, the visitors outnumbered the settlers, except when there were war scares....[32] Between 1764 and 1774 residents for the first time continuously outnumbered visitors. During these years the winter residents, including male hangers-on as well as settlers, averaged 12,340; and visitors, including 'passengers' as well as ships' crews, averaged 11,876; or excluding male hangers-on from the one side and passengers from the other side, residents averaged 5,660 and visitors 5,435. Figures no longer yielded an uncertain sound. The Rubicon was only just crossed, but was indisputably and irrevocably crossed. Thenceforth the living-rooms were larger than the corridors, and political arithmetic pointed at the permanent occupants as the men of destiny. In 1764 the new tilt of the balance struck the law officers of the Crown, who wrote that it was 'disgraceful to suffer' the Act of 1699 'to remain in the Statute Book' as circumstances had so much changed. This disproportion increased; and the 12,000 inhabitants of 1764-74 swelled to 17,000 in 1792, 20,000 in 1804, and 52,000 in 1822, without any corresponding increase on the part of those who appeared every spring and faded away every autumn, like leaves or flowers."[33]

FOOTNOTES:

[30] Quoted in Egerton's "History of British Colonial Policy."