in Harbour Grace, and that he publicly read Mass, which is contrary to
law, and against the peace of our Sovereign Lord the King; you are
hereby required and directed, on the receipt of this, to cause the
said priest to be taken into custody, and sent round to this place. In
this you are not to fail."

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