limits of their respective jurisdictions; the admirals, whose wits
seem to have been sharpened by judicial practice, insisting that their
own authority was derived from statute, whereas that of the justices
merely rested upon an Order in Council.

In 1749 the great sailor Rodney, then a commander in the Navy, was
appointed Governor. He distinguished himself by a humane consideration
for the interests of the fishing servants. His answer to a petition
from the merchants for permission to lower the contract rate of wages,
in view of the badness of the season, has often been quoted, and is
pleasant to read:

"Mr Drake and myself would be glad to ease the merchants in all that
lay in our power, but we are by no means capable of acting as desired,
to serve any people whatever. I have only one question to ask, namely:
'Had the season been good in proportion as it has proved bad, would
the merchants or boat-keepers have raised the men's wages?'"

In 1750 came another advance. Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer were
appointed for the island; that is to say, persons authorized to "hear
and determine" on capital felonies committed in Newfoundland. This
change ended the costly farce by which such persons were sent to
England for trial. Seven years of development followed, to be broken
by the long struggle between England and France, which the splendid
genius of Pitt inspired and directed. He not only "conquered America
in Europe" by the prodigal carelessness with which he poured subsidies
into the treasury of Prussia, but he conceived and delivered in
America itself a death-blow to French ambition. In 1758 Amherst and
Wolfe, with a fleet of 150 vessels, were sent to attack Cape Breton,
and after assaulting Louisbourg, the capital, received the submission