The parts that had been surrendered by the French, occasioned in various ways great contest and discontent. We have before seen, that it was the opinion of the board, that those parts fell under all the regulations of the stat. 10 and 11 Will. 3.; and this was confirmed by the opinion of the law officers. Another difficulty arose, in consequence of an agreement made by the Queen with the king of France, which went beyond the terms of the treaty of Utrecht. The French were by the treaty allowed to remain and enjoy their estates and settlements, provided they qualified themselves to be subjects of Great Britain—those who would not do this, had leave to go elsewhere; and take with them their _moveable_ effects. _Queen Anne_, in consideration of the king of France releasing a number of protestant slaves out of the gallies, permitted the French inhabitants of _Placentia_, who were not willing to become her subjects, to sell their _houses_ and _lands_ there. It became therefore a _question_, whether this permission of the queen was valid, so as to dispose of _lands_ which came to the crown by treaty. This point was submitted to _Mr. West_, counsel to the board of trade, for his opinion; and it was material to settle it, because many British subjects had purchased such lands from the French inhabitants. His answer was, that the queen could not by her letter dispose of lands granted to the crown by treaty; but if she entered into any regular agreement with the court of France for that purpose, she was, by the law of nations, engaged to do every thing in her power to enable the French to have the benefit of it; which might be done by her confirming titles to such of her subjects as should pay the French a confederation in money, or otherwise, for their lands or houses[28]. Many such lands purchased by _Governor Moody_, having been used for fortifications, the board recommended compensation to be made him by the crown. But when this question was so answered, what became of the right to ships’ rooms, as established by stat. 10 and 11 Will. 3. which statute was held to apply to the French parts now ceded, as well as to the other? _Placentia_ being the best part for fishing, the English complained they were deprived of the benefit they had promised themselves, by this new acquisition, as they could not resort thither, without paying high rents for a plantation to cure their fish. In truth, many French still continued there, and they gave encouragement also to _Biscayans_, and to the people of _Guipuscoa_, who, we have seen, were starting a pretension to fish at Newfoundland, of right. All these together constituted a source of great discontent, and so continued for several years[29]. [Sidenote: A Salmon Fishery granted.]