Newfoundland provided the pay and allowances of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment (6,326 all ranks) and made up the difference in pay to bring the Royal (Newfoundland) Naval Reserve to the same scale as that of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, besides equipping the Royal Newfoundland Regiment before proceeding overseas. * * * * * FOOTNOTES: [51] See a letter from the able correspondent of _The Times_ in Newfoundland, November 6th, 1900. [52] P.T. M'Grath, "Newfoundland in 1911," p. 24. [53] This question has already been referred to several times in the preceding pages (see especially beginning of chap. viii). It may be added here that in March 1906, the Prime Minister of Canada stated that the Government of Newfoundland was fully aware that the Government of Canada was ready to entertain a proposal for the entry of the island into the confederation. [54] For the statement following the writer is indebted to Sir Edgar Bowring, the High Commissioner of Newfoundland. [55] Instead of maintaining a hospital overseas, Newfoundland supported 301 beds in addition to 32 in Newfoundland. CHAPTER X THE FRENCH SHORE QUESTION It has been impossible in the above pages to avoid reference to the Anglo-French disputes in Newfoundland, but it seemed convenient to postpone a detailed examination of the question to a separate chapter. No apology is necessary for such a chapter even in a work so slight as the present, for the French Shore question was chronically acute in Newfoundland, and the French claims, like George III.'s prerogative, were increasing, had increased, and ought to have been diminished. The dispute is partly historical, partly legal, and can only be explained by reference to documents of considerable age. The French connection with Newfoundland was encouraged by the nearness of Canada, and in quaint names, such as Bay Facheuse and Point Enragee, it has bequeathed lasting reminders. For centuries the French, like the Dutch, went on giving too little and asking too much. By the time of Louis XIV. they had in fact established themselves--an _imperium in imperio_--upon the south coast, and William of Orange in the declaration of war against his lifelong enemy recited the English grievances: "It was not long since the French took licences from the Governor of Newfoundland to fish upon that coast, and paid a tribute for such licences as an acknowledgment of the sole right of the Crown of England to that island; but of late the encroachments of the French, and His Majesty's subjects trading and fishing there, had been more like the invasion of an enemy than becoming friends who enjoyed the advantages of that trade only by permission."