Editing Newfoundland and Labrador (section)

=== British colony ===

==== The United Irish Conspiracy and Catholic Emancipation ====
The founding proprietor of the [[Province of Avalon]], [[George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore]], intended that it should serve as a refuge for his persecuted Roman Catholic co-religionists. But like his other colony in the [[Province of Maryland]] on the American mainland, it soon passed out of the Calvert family's control. The majority Catholic population that developed, thanks to [[Irish language in Newfoundland|Irish immigration]], in [[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's]] and the [[Avalon Peninsula]], was subjected to the same disabilities that applied elsewhere under the British Crown. On visiting St. John's in 1786, Prince William Henry (the future [[King William IV]]) noted that "there are ten Roman Catholics to one Protestant",<ref>[https://www.mun.ca/rels/ang/texts/pwh.htm Memorial University] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110015234/http://www.mun.ca/rels/ang/texts/pwh.htm |date=January 10, 2011 }}, Note 87: PWH to King, September 21, 1786, Later Correspondence of George III, Vol. 1, 251.</ref> and he counselled against any measure of Catholic relief.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rollman |first=Hans |date=1986 |title=Prince William in Newfoundland |url=http://www.mun.ca/rels/ang/texts/pwh.htm |website=Religion Society and Culture: The Newfoundland and Labrador pages of Dr Hans Rollman, Memorial University, Newfoundland |access-date=July 16, 2022 |archive-date=January 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110015234/http://www.mun.ca/rels/ang/texts/pwh.htm }}</ref>

Following news of [[Irish Rebellion of 1798|rebellion in Ireland]], in June 1798, Governor Vice-Admiral [[William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock|Waldegrave]] cautioned London that the English constituted but a "small proportion" of the locally raised [[Royal Newfoundland Regiment|Regiment of Foot]]. In an echo of an earlier Irish conspiracy during the French occupation of St. John's in 1762, in April 1800, the authorities had reports that upwards of 400 men had taken an oath as [[Society of United Irishmen|United Irishmen]], and that eighty soldiers were committed to killing their officers and seizing their [[Anglican]] governors at Sunday service.<ref name="mannion">{{Cite journal|last=Mannion|first=John|date=January 1, 2000|title="... Notoriously disaffected to the Government..." British allegations of Irish disloyalty in eighteenth-century Newfoundland|url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/NFLDS/article/view/816|journal=Newfoundland and Labrador Studies|language=en|issn=1715-1430|access-date=March 12, 2021|archive-date=July 30, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730211028/https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/NFLDS/article/view/816|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[United Irish Uprising in Newfoundland|abortive mutiny]], for which eight men (denounced by Catholic Bishop [[James Louis O'Donel]] as "favourers of the infidel French")<ref name=":82">{{Cite book |last=MacGiollabhui |first=Muiris |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/75x28210 |title=Sons of Exile: The United Irishmen in Transnational Perspective 1791-1827 |publisher=UC Santa Cruz (Thesis) |year=2019 |pages=118 |access-date=January 10, 2023 |archive-date=December 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226131551/https://escholarship.org/uc/item/75x28210 |url-status=live }}</ref> were hanged, may have been less a United Irish plot, than an act of desperation in the face of brutal living conditions and officer tyranny. Many of the Irish reserve soldiers were forced to remain on duty, unable to return to the fisheries that supported their families.<ref>{{cite web|last=Fitzgerald|first=John Edward|date=2001|title=The United Irish Uprising in Newfoundland, 1800|url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/united-irish-uprising.php |url-status=live|access-date=March 11, 2021|website=Heritage: Newfoundland and Labrador|archive-date=February 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209221118/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/united-irish-uprising.php}}</ref><ref name="mannion"/> Yet the Newfoundland Irish would have been aware of the agitation in the homeland for civil equality and political rights.<ref name=":4">{{cite web|date=February 7, 2013|title="The entire island is United..."|url=https://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/the-entire-island-is-united/|access-date=March 11, 2021|website=History Ireland|archive-date=July 31, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210731220850/https://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/the-entire-island-is-united/|url-status=live}}</ref> There were reports of communication with United men in Ireland from before '98 rebellion;<ref name=":4"/> of [[Thomas Paine]]'s pamphlets circulating in St. John's;<ref>Fitzgerald (2001), p. 25</ref> and, despite the war with France, of hundreds of young [[County Waterford]] men still making a seasonal migration to the island for the fisheries, among them defeated rebels, said to have "added fuel to the fire" of local grievance.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pedley|first=Rev. Charles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HGABAAAAQAAJ|title=The History of Newfoundland from the Earliest Times to 1860|publisher=Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green|year=1863|location=London|page=210|language=en|access-date=March 19, 2021|archive-date=August 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814150713/https://books.google.com/books?id=HGABAAAAQAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

When news reached Newfoundland in May 1829 that the UK Parliament had finally conceded [[Catholic emancipation]], the locals assumed that Catholics would now pass unhindered into the ranks of public office and enjoy equality with Protestants. There was a celebratory parade and mass in St. John's, and a gun salute from vessels in the harbour. But the attorney general and supreme court justices determined that as Newfoundland was a colony, and not a province of the [[United Kingdom]], the [[Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829|Roman Catholic Relief Act]] did not apply. The discrimination was a matter of local ordinance.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fitzgerald |first=John Edward |title=Newfoundland and Daniel O'Connell |url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/daniel-oconnell.php |access-date=April 22, 2022 |website=heritage.nf.ca |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112040237/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/daniel-oconnell.php |url-status=live }}</ref>

It was not until May 1832 that the British [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]] formally stated that a new commission would be issued to [[Thomas John Cochrane|Governor Cochrane]] to remove any and all [[Roman Catholic disabilities]] in Newfoundland.<ref>John P. Greene (1999), ''Between Damnation and Starvation: Priests and Merchants in Newfoundland Politics, 1745–1855,'' McGill-Queen's University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-7735-1880-3}}.</ref> By then Catholic emancipation was bound up (as in Ireland) with the call for [[home rule]].

==== Achievement of home rule ====
After the end of the [[Napoleonic Wars]] in 1815, France and other nations re-entered the fish trade and an abundance of cod glutted international markets. Prices dropped, competition increased, and the colony's profits evaporated. A string of harsh winters between 1815 and 1817 made living conditions even more difficult, while fires at St. John's in 1817 left thousands homeless.<ref>{{cite web|last=Higgins|first=Jenny|date=2009|title=Reform Movement|url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/reform-movement.php|url-status=live|website=Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage|access-date=March 12, 2021|archive-date=June 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210619072255/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/reform-movement.php}}</ref> At the same time a new wave of immigration from Ireland increased the Catholic population. In these circumstances much of the English and Protestant proprietor class tended to shelter behind the appointed, and Anglican, "naval government".<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Thomsen|first=Robert Chr.|date=2005|title=Democracy, Sectarianism and Denomi(-)nationalism: The Irish in Newfoundland|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30001517|journal=Nordic Irish Studies|volume=4|pages=13–27, 16|jstor=30001517|issn=1602-124X|access-date=March 12, 2021|archive-date=August 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815134056/https://www.jstor.org/stable/30001517|url-status=live}}</ref>

A broad home-rule coalition of Irish community leaders and ([[Scottish people|Scottish]] and [[Welsh people|Welsh]]) [[Methodists]] formed in 1828. Expressing, initially, the concerns of a new middle class over taxation, it was led by William Carson, a Scottish physician, and Patrick Morris, an Irish merchant. In 1825, the British government granted Newfoundland and Labrador official colonial status and appointed Sir Thomas Cochrane as its first civil governor. Partly carried by the wave of reform in Britain, a colonial legislature in St. John's, together with the promise of Catholic emancipation, followed in 1832. Carson made his goal for Newfoundland clear: "We shall rise into a national existence, having a national character, a nation's feelings, assuming that rank among our neighbours which the political situation and the extent of our island demand".<ref name=":1"/>

Standing as [[Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador|Liberals]], the reformers sought to break the Anglican monopoly on government patronage and to tax the fisheries to fund the judiciary, road-building projects, and other expenses. They were opposed by the [[Conservative Party of Newfoundland|Conservatives]] (the "Tories"), who largely represented the Anglican establishment and mercantile interests. While Tories dominated the governor's appointed Executive Council, Liberals generally held the majority of seats in the elected House of Assembly.<ref>{{cite web|last=Higgins|first=Jenny|date=2009|title=Liberals, Conservatives and Sectarianism|url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/sectarianism.php|url-status=live|access-date=March 13, 2021|website=Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage|archive-date=May 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504135340/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/sectarianism.php}}</ref>

Economic conditions remained harsh. As in Ireland, the potato which made possible a steady growth in population failed as a result of the ''[[Phytophthora infestans]]'' blight. The number of deaths from the [[1846–1848 Newfoundland potato famine]] remains unknown, but there was pervasive hunger. Along with other half-hearted measures to relieve the distress, Governor John Gaspard Le Marchant declared a "Day of Public Fasting and Humiliation" in hopes the Almighty might pardon their sins and "withdraw his afflicting hand."<ref>Castelle, George (2019). "The Newfoundland Potato Famine, 1846–48: An Account from the Colony's Newspapers". ''Journal of Newfoundland and Labrador Studies'', 34 (2). St. John's, Newfoundland, pp. 304, 314–315</ref> The wave of post-famine emigration from Ireland notably passed over Newfoundland.

==== Era of responsible government ====
Fisheries revived, and the devolution of responsibilities from London continued. In 1854, the British government established Newfoundland's first [[responsible government]],<ref>{{cite web
|url= http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/representative.html
|title= Representative Government, 1832–1855
|last= Webb
|first= Jeff
|access-date= October 17, 2008
|archive-date= October 25, 2014
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141025071524/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/representative.html
|url-status= live
}}</ref> an executive accountable to the colonial legislature. In 1855, with an Assembly majority, the Liberals under [[Philip Francis Little]] (the first Roman Catholic to practise law in St. John's) formed Newfoundland's first parliamentary government (1855–1858). Newfoundland rejected [[Canadian Confederation|confederation with Canada]] in the [[1869 Newfoundland general election|1869 general election]]. The Islanders were preoccupied with land issues—the Escheat&nbsp;movement with its call to suppress absentee landlordism in favour of the tenant farmer. Canada offered little in the way of solutions.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Belshaw|first=John Douglas|date=2020|title=Canadian History: Post-Confederation|edition=2nd|chapter=2:13 The Other Dominion|url=https://opentextbc.ca/postconfederation2e/chapter/2-13-the-other-dominion/|url-status=live|via=BCcampus Open Publishing|access-date=April 13, 2021|archive-date=April 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413134227/https://opentextbc.ca/postconfederation2e/chapter/2-13-the-other-dominion/}}</ref>

From the 1880s, as cod fishery fell into severe decline, there was large-scale emigration. While some people, working abroad, left their homes on a seasonal or temporary basis more began to leave permanently. Most emigrants (largely Catholic and of Irish descent) moved to Canada, many to find work in the steel plants and coal mines of [[Nova Scotia]]. There was also a considerable outflow to the United States and, in particular, to [[New England]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Higgins|first=Jenny|date=2008|title=19th Century Migration|url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/19th-century-migration.php|url-status=live|access-date=March 13, 2021|website=Heritage: Newfoundland and Labrador|archive-date=June 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616022310/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/19th-century-migration.php}}</ref>

In 1892, St. John's burned. The [[Great Fire of 1892|Great Fire]] left 12,000 homeless. In 1894, the two commercial banks in Newfoundland collapsed. These bankruptcies left a vacuum that was subsequently filled by Canadian chartered banks, a change that subordinated Newfoundland to Canadian monetary policies.<ref name=":0"/>

Newfoundland lay outside the direct route of world traffic. St. John's, {{cvt|2000|mi|order=flip}} from [[Liverpool]] and about 1,000 miles from the east-coast American cities, was not a port of call for Atlantic liners. But with the co-ordination and extension of the railway system, new prospects for development opened in the interior. Paper and pulp mills were established by the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Co. at [[Grand Falls, Newfoundland|Grand Falls]] for the supply of the publishing empires in the UK of [[Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe|Lord Northcliffe]] and [[Viscount Rothermere|Lord Rothermere]]. Iron ore mines were established at [[Bell Island (Newfoundland and Labrador)|Bell Island]].<ref name=":6">The Times (1918), Newfoundland and the War", ''The Times History of the War, Vol XIV'', (181–216), 184–186.</ref>