"The English authorities only remonstrated gently with the French, who
by that time were claiming an exclusive right to all the business of
the west coast, and finally it was agreed to submit the whole question
to arbitration. It has never yet been arbitrated, though that was some
years ago. In the meantime an arrangement was made by which all
lobster factories in existence on July 1, 1889, were allowed to
continue their business, but no others might be established."
"Was your factory one of those then in existence?" asked Cabot.
"It was completed, and ready to begin work a whole month before that
date; but the captain of a French frigate told my father that if he
canned a single lobster his factory would be destroyed. Father
appealed to the commander of a British warship for protection; but was
informed that none could be given, and that if he persisted in the
attempt to operate his factory his own countrymen would be compelled to
aid the French in its destruction. On that, father went to law, but it
was not until the season was ended that the British captain was found
to have had no authority for his action. So father sued him for
damages, and obtained judgment for five thousand dollars. He never got
the money, though, and by the time the next season came round the law
regarding factories in existence on the first of the previous July was
in force.
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