The French just now are like one of Southey's heroes,
"all naked feeling and raw life," ready to ,fight the world for any- thing, however valueless, which can be considered a right. This time the grievance is fishing off Newfoundland. They have rights of fishing off part of the island, under the Treaty of Utrecht ; but the Newfoundlanders consider that they stretch them, and have passed Acts to forbid their fishers getting live bait, besides building on French ground work- shops for preserving lobsters. Admiral Veron on Monday brought these grievances before the French Senate, and M. Goblet declared that he would take all necessary, steps. He did not care about the live bait, but the lobster-preserving works must be "made to disappear." One- fifth of the shore belonged to the French, and although English works had been established there for a long period, he should at once open negotiations with England for their suppression. If M. Goblet's despatches are in the tone of his speech, he must be a pleasant person to negotiate with ; but we presume the former are addressed to gentlemen, and the latter to French voters of Chauvinist opinions.
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