The reason for re-annexing the Labrador coast to Canada was that since 1763, when it had been placed under the Governor of Newfoundland, there had been constant disputes and difficulties as to the fishing rights on that coast. It was the old story, so well known in the case of Newfoundland itself, of a perpetual struggle between those who lived on or near the spot, and the fishermen who came over the Atlantic from English ports, and who wanted the fisheries and the landing-places reserved for their periodical visits. The Governor of Newfoundland in the years 1764-8 was an energetic man, Sir Hugh Palliser, who built a fort in Labrador, and set himself to enforce the fishing rules which prevailed in Newfoundland. But the Labrador fisheries, it was contended, were of a more sedentary nature than those of the Newfoundland Banks, sealing was as prominent an occupation as cod-fishing;[48] the regulations which kept Newfoundland for the Dorset and Devon fishing fleets could not fairly be applied to the mainland, and the coast of Labrador should be placed under regular civil government, and not be left in the charge of the sea captains who held authority in Newfoundland. It was really a case, on a very small scale, of England against America; and the interesting point to notice is that the opponents of the Newfoundland régime included alike French Canadians and New Englanders. The few settlers on the Labrador coast, and the fishermen and sealers who came either from Canada or from the New England states, were all concerned to prevent Labrador from being kept, like Newfoundland, as a preserve for Englishmen, and a nursery for English sailors; and it illustrates the confusion of thought which existed among the opponents of the Quebec Act that, in the debate on the Act, we find Chatham, the champion of the rights of the American colonists, denouncing the provision which gave back Labrador to Quebec, on the ground that it would become a nursery for French instead of English sailors, forgetful that the system which he wished to perpetuate, had been persistently obstructed by the men of Massachusetts, forgetful too that true statesmanship conceived of the French Canadians, on sea or land, as future loyal citizens of the British Crown. [Sidenote: Inclusion of the western hinterland in the province of Quebec.] But the extension of the boundaries of the province of Quebec on the Atlantic side was after all a small matter, though the most was made of it for party purposes. Nor could exception be taken to the enlargement of the province to the north and north-west, until it reached the territories which had been granted to, or were claimed by, the Hudson’s Bay Company. Far more important and more debatable was the inclusion of the western and south-western regions, which had been left outside the government of Quebec by the Proclamation of 1763. [Illustration: